


First Adventures

by Six_Sided_Dice



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: Jedi Apprentice Series - Jude Watson & Dave Wolverton, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Clone Wars, Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-22
Updated: 2014-09-17
Packaged: 2018-02-14 05:51:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 25,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2180379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Six_Sided_Dice/pseuds/Six_Sided_Dice
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After leaving the Jedi Order when his former Master fell to the dark side, 14-year-old Tyro is faced with a choice - live his life out at AgriCorps, doing what good he can, or join an infamous Jedi General and fight in the Clone Wars for one last shot at becoming a Padawan.</p>
<p>A Pre-Order 66 story in the vein of the Jedi Apprentice Series.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Timeframe: Prequel trilogy. Final year of the Clone Wars, one year before Order 66.
> 
> Genre: Adventure, Action, Angst, Drama, H/C
> 
> Cannon Character Mentions: Mace Windu, Yoda
> 
> Warnings: Language (mild, mostly star wars swears), violence (moderate)
> 
> A/N:
> 
> This story and those to follow, chronicle the story of Gavyn, a Jedi Master and General, and his Padawan, Tyro, during the final year of the Clone Wars.
> 
> These characters were initially created for an Order 66 Star Wars D20 campaign, so we figured we should let them have some fun before meeting their inevitable fates.
> 
> In the spirit of tabletop games we tried something new, and wrote this piece using six-sided-dice for turning points and supporting characters, creating some rather interesting situations that really pushed these characters to their limits.

**Beginnings**

**Tyro watched the last remaining outposts** of the great market speed past the windows of the train in vibrant streaks before giving into rolling countryside. It had been a long day of bartering and haggling and generally trying to get people to take him seriously when he asserted exactly what he wanted and that yes, he did know precisely how much was fair price. Really Tyro enjoyed it for the experience of the whole thing. A day in the city was exhausting, and as much as he loved the change in atmosphere and the people watching, he was going to relish the week ahead of nothing but machine and droid repairs.

He leaned back in his seat and sighed, resting an arm over the crate of machine parts he had just acquired. It looked casual enough, but Tyro was alert, watching without looking, as he had been trained. One never knew what sorts would show up on a planet like Tirahnn. From produce to high-end luxury items, the bazaar here drew all sorts. He didn't have a problem with that, some of his best friends had been, well technically, criminals. One just had to be aware of the conditions and risks, and as usual, Tyro wasn't taking any but the most calculated.

Not that there were many risks to take on a planet like this. Compared to the undercity of Coruscant, navigating Tirahan was nothing, the culture was just different. And compared to the kind of work he had done in the last year, maintaining machines on a farm hardly carried any risk.

The demeanor he kept was casual enough, but Tyro let his bright green mohawk, studded and patched leather jacket, and eight piercings do most of the talking for him. While it was the norm the undercity, and the only real way to blend in without being a target, Tyro was finding his fashion taste had a few other advantages in a more diverse and comparatively amenable place such as this. It eliminated small talk for one. It also assured him personal space on a packed commuter train.

Satisfied that no one was going to dare getting anywhere near him for a good while, Tyro pulled what was now a lukewarm burger from his bag. The taste of the first bite was mingled with a sour tinge of guilt. Swallowing it down he reminded himself that the money he had paid for it had been his, fairly earned for helping a guy out with his broken speeder earlier in the day in a favor turned commission. Besides, it was his birthday. Not that, he reminded himself, the event should matter, but being fourteen was one step closer to being respected. Which meant he could do his job better, which in turn meant more profit and, perhaps, more justification for future burgers.

Before he could decide if that was okay to consider or not he had finished the burger. Years of eating for the utility of it, or perhaps just being hungry and thir...no fourteen necessitated its consumption in less than four bites. With nothing else to do Tyro pulled on his headphones and stared out at the moonlit countryside.

* * *

 **It seemed that every time Gavyn** visited Coruscant the Jedi High Council pushed him harder and harder to take another Padawan, yet it seemed with each visit the students were younger and younger. He had no interest in bringing a child into the front lines of battle. Recently, however, Gavyn had caught wind of a scandal, resulting in the expulsion of a Jedi, and leaving his apprentice to work at Agricorps. It was surprising to Gavyn that no master had taken him, since many other generals were losing their apprentices in battle. Apparently this boy's former master had dabbled in the Dark Side, which many seemed to think would rub off on his apprentice, or that he would get them expelled for some breach of conduct as well. Gavyn felt like he knew better, this kids was faced with temptation, and still turned in his master for what he believed in. Gavyn needed that. Someone to watch his back and make sure he walked the path in the midst of war.

After a short inquiry, he found the location that Tyro- that was the boy's name- was sent to. He was sent to Tirahnn, luckily not too far off the beaten path. Gavyn had landed late in the day in the bustling spaceport, overwhelmed with the crowds and thick scents of fresh products being whisked away to the market. He made a mental note to pick up a few particularly exotic foods for Ace, since he didn't know the next time he would be in a place with such a wealth of diversity without the atrocious markup on Coruscant.

Gavyn made his way to the train, which rode out regularly to the countryside, where the Agricorps commune was located. As soon as he ducked inside he could feel that there was another force-sensitive nearby. It was hard to tell if it was another Jedi, or the young Padawan he was searching for, the energy seemed unfocused and relaxed.

The place was packed with people and their wares, it was the time when everyone was going back home to their farms after a day in the market. For a man of Gavyn's stature, it was uncomfortable to say the least. He repeated "excuse me"s and "pardon"s like it was a chant. Finally, he caught a glimmer of open space near a window, and worked his way over to the seat.

Across from him was a teenager, rough around the edges, but clearly not malevolent. Still, the studded jacket and green mohawk didn't exactly invite friends. Something was drawing Gavyn to him, however, and after a moment he realized this boy was the source of the force sensitivity on the train. He looked about the right age to be Tyro, but he was clearly not a jedi.

Regardless, Gavyn felt compelled to introduce himself. He wondered if this youngster was aware of the force to sense a Jedi. "Hello." He nodded, pulling back his hood. "Gavyn Jervada. I hope you don't mind me taking this seat."

* * *

 **It hit Tyro like a bolt of lightning** the moment the train pulled to a stop. For half a moment Tyro suspected danger, but with a presence in the force that strong it would have to be a sith or something. Not that he had ever come across one, but somehow he got the feeling that it wouldn't feel at all like this, which felt wholly benevolent and distinctly Jedi. But no one out here had that kind of presence, in fact he couldn't think of anyone with that kind of presence, not even Master Yoda. He took a deep breath and let it go, not centering on it. Whatever it was, it was none of his business.

Tyro settled back down as the train started again, happy to not worry about it. That didn't last long. He quickly looked back out the window to avoid making eye contact with what turned out to be an enormous person of a man as he entered the car. A wave of apprehension washed over him as the man drew closer, from the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of the distinctive brown robes of a Jedi.

That made sense though, he reasoned. There was only an agricorps presence here on what was usually an entirely self-sufficient planet due to the battle a few months back. The citizens here needed less help growing things and more help getting their crops and lives back in order, and the republic was doing their best to make sure that made no dent in their economy. It was a disappointment to Tyro at first, that he wasn't somewhere helping people who really needed it, but he had come to understand that anyone could fall on hard times and everyone needed help from time to time. Doubtless this guy was here to check in on how things were doing, or solve some other diplomatic problem here. Yeah, that was it.

Unless he was here for...him. After almost a month of hearings and trials, and another month or so here they certainly didn't have anything else they needed from him, right? It had been horrible, he'd lost friends, a way of life. Like a good Jedi Knight he had put that all behind him though, even if he never would be one. He was content here, this was what the force meant for him to do.

Tyro feared the worst when the man stepped up to him, but then he introduced himself. Jervada…or would it be Master Jervada then? That name was familiar. For a moment Tyro considered replying in kind, addressing the man formally with a bow, introducing himself as Padawan Reval, but he wasn't a Padawan anymore, he remembered along with the sting of the braid that had been ripped from his hair.

Best keep it vague then. "Seat's yours," Tyro shrugged. He picked up the box of machine parts on his other side and set it below his feet to make more room. The guy was huge; tall, broad shoulders and a thick beard that made him look only larger. If the man was here for him he would say so, if not, he could go on with the life he had forged for himself.

Then it hit him. Jervada. That was the name of that General. He didn't know the details but, this was the guy they called in when it got real. Real enough that the cost of lives didn't matter. If he was here, something was about to go down.

Gavyn leaned back, making himself comfortable. He studied the teen further, certain in his feelings that he was force sensitive. There was nothing about him to indicate association with the Jedi however. He didn't wear the braid of an apprentice. He didn't wear simple robes, even simple farming robes. He seemed more like a civilian, and more like an urban civilian at that.

"What brought you into the city today?" Gavyn asked, hoping to while away the train ride with some conversation. He didn't know what the stuff in the box of metal scraps did, so couldn't make a fair guess about what this kid's job was.

"Er," Tyro started. The conversation caught him off guard. "Picking up parts for repairs." He wanted to leave it at that, pull on his headphones and just not get involved, but something about this guy was nagging him. He couldn't just turn a blind eye to it. "You?"

"I am on my way to visit the Agricorps settlement." Gavyn answered openly. He wasn't sure if the boy had heard about it, however. "They're a humanitarian group that are helping rebuild the acreage that was spoiled in the recent war. They haven't been here too long yet."

A sudden disturbance in the force rocked Gavyn. He stood up suddenly, backing away from the door. He wasn't sure what had just happened, but he knew that this was not going to be a peaceful train ride after all.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Begrudgingly, a team is formed.

**The man was only saved a sarcastic look** of "No, really?" by his sudden jump to attention. Tyro felt it too. As the train slowed to a stop at the next station a wave rippled through the force. It was odd though. He didn't usually feel this sort of thing, and when he did it didn't feel like this. Like, he could feel there was danger, but he could feel that sense strengthened and rebounded through the jedi master now standing in front of him. Looking like a complete idiot. Tyro couldn't help but add.

Tyro stayed where he was, watching, not wanting to give himself away. He didn't consider himself the sneaky or conservative sort but years of experience in the undercity had taught him it was better to lay low and observe this kind of thing to choose the best moment to move on it.

It took him a moment to locate the source of the threat he was feeling. Passengers found their way on and off the train, squeezing into any gaps left. All did so in a calm and perfectly normal fashion. If it wasn't for the warning in the force he would have suspected nothing.

The train lurched forward again and only then did his eyes land on two beings, standing a bit apart in the isle. Both human. One a shaggy haired male holding a dufflebag, the other, a blond well dressed woman, holding a brief case. Nothing that should have been too out of the ordinary, the train car was full of people carrying all sorts of things.

Instantly Tyro's mind lit up with ideas, considerations. Why they were there, what they would do, what he could do about it. He wondered if the Jedi guy had pinpointed the same people too. Normally this was the kind of thing Tyro would pursue on his own, but seeing as the man was already at alert it seemed only responsible to pass along the info.

Giving a quick short tug on the Jedi Master's robe he caught his eye, flicking his gaze over to each of his suspects in turn.

Gavyn glanced at the boy, then followed the gaze to the two strangers. He was careful not to look directly at them, observing them peripherally, and through the Force. He pulled his hood up, and turned around.

He spoke quietly to the punk kid. "I think there may be trouble." He said. Gavyn sized him up quickly. The kid looked like he might be able to threaten some casual thugs, but Gavyn didn't want him caught up into something larger. Where Gavyn came from, kids his age were warriors. He was force sensitive, however, and he seemed much more focused now, albeit still demonstrating a lack of control.

"Yep." Tyro mouthed with a nod. Obviously. He turned away from the Jedi, looking out the window once more, his mind racing through the possibilities as the train picked up speed. If those were going to do something, they were probably going to make a move soon. Tyro wasn't going to let it get to that point.

He caught a glance between the two of them as the woman repositioned the briefcase under her arm. The time to act was now. Tyro stood up, remorsefully considering the pile of machine parts he was about to leave behind. He couldn't trust the other passengers not to take them. They might make a good excuse though he considered. He hefted the crate off the floor, using the force to take the majority of the weight, there would have been no way to carry it otherwise, and made his way to the doors as though he were getting ready to get off at the next exit. Up ahead the woman had looked back from the man and was beginning to make her way down the car. This should work perfectly then.

"Oi! Er, sorry about that," Tyro apologized as the two inevitably bumped into each other. A terse glare was all he got in return. "Long day," Tyro added reaching out for the force to wrap it around his words as his former master had taught him, "You look tired. I just left a seat back there, you should take it." The words left his mouth, but he just couldn't bring himself add a force suggestion into them. A knot formed in his stomach, the very thought of it making him sick. Somewhere between fear and guilt, but not quite either, he assured himself. He just hadn't tried that since…

"I'm fine thank you," the woman replied succinctly before pushing her way past him towards the back of the crowded car. Towards the Jedi guy at least. Perhaps he had a plan, though Tyro wasn't too sure how much he trusted that. He looked forward again through the twenty or so people packed between him and the doors only to lock eyes with the man who was now glaring deeply back at him.

* * *

**There wasn't much Gavyn could do in a crowded car,** and before either of the two suspects did anything openly malicious. He had to have patience. Gavyn kept an eye on them out of the corner of his eye, as he reached out with the force. As the train slowed down for the next stop, he influenced the crowd. _Get the next train. This one is too crowded._ He could feel them start to get jittery and restless, and when the doors opened, the crowd poured out, replace by only a few people traveling across the countryside.

Now Gavyn just had to wait for them to make their move.

* * *

**As soon as the train came to a stop** people poured out, jostling past to all get out of the doors. When the crowd cleared Tyro looked around. Both the man and the woman were gone. _Sithspit_ he sighed under his breath, turning the possibilities over in his mind. The woman was headed to front of the train when she had passed him. The man…he wasn't sure but he could have gotten off and got back on in another car? Or headed anywhere else. It didn't matter though now, he had to find that woman before...whatever it was going that was to happen.

He quickly made his way back over to Gavyn. "See 'em?"

"Lost them in the crowd" Gavyn growled.

Tyro scrunched his face in a frown. Not good. Hefting his box under one arm he hurried down the train into the next car. It was sparsely populated now, more so than it should be after this stop. He wondered if that had anything to do with the Jedi Master guy but before he could think too far into it he heard the sound of a blaster bolt from the car ahead. Then a scream.

Tyro dropped his the machine parts and ran towards it, hoping he was not too late. A twinge in the living force told him he was, even before he reached the door to the next car. He slowed, realizing that bursting in there might do more harm than good, to both him and the other passengers. Sure, he had the force, as well as a blaster pistol in one boot and a knife up his sleeve, but none of them could deflect a bolt like the lightsaber he once had. He would have to find a different way around this.

Gavyn raced past, when the kid suddenly stopped. He shouldered the door open, barreling through like a charging bull. The Jedi didn't waste a moment in activating his lightsaber and assuming a defensive stance.

A quick glance around the room revealed the two suspects. The woman was holding a blaster, and one of the passengers lay cold on the floor.

"Drop your weapons!" Gavyn warned.

The two suspect glanced at each other briefly. With a sudden movement, the woman flung her blaster at Gavyn. In the moment it took him to sidestep, the pair dashed out of the room.

* * *

**Tyro stared, eyes wide** as Gavyn sped past him, slamming his way through the door. It was stupid...what if he scared them and they shot someone else? But as he watched the Jedi Master standing there, blue lightsaber drawn, Tyro knew deep down, somewhere he had tried to forget about, he wanted to be right there too, lightsaber in hand. He could help more. He glanced at the man who had been shot, wishing he could have been there earlier, or that he could do something for him, but taking a deep breath he let it go and focused on the present, he had to prevent it from happening again in the future.

The two murderers rushed into the next train car, barricading the door behind them. Well, there were other ways of getting around that. Turning his back on the Jedi master who was clearly doing his own thing, Tyro lithely climbed out the nearest window, pulling himself up to the top of the train. He stayed low as the wind rushed past, using the force to cling to the riveted ceiling. As much as characters in those old adventure novels he used to read could climb on top of speeding trains, it was decidedly more difficult in real life traveling hundreds of miles per hour. Keeping his head down against the raging nighttime wind Tyro couldn't help but grin. This was...kind of cool. No time for that though, he had to stop those guys before someone else got hurt.

Moments later he dropped down one car past where the criminals were, ideally now stuck between him, and the Jedi guy. It wasn't to be. The passengers in the car screamed as he landed on the ground.

"Another one! We're doomed!" shouted someone just as Tyro oriented himself to the fact they were talking...about him.

"No, I'm not…" he started to explain, not feeling the picture of a hero that he had imagined.

"No. He's not one of us." Tyro spun at the sound of the voice, only to immediately lock eyes with the man with the duffel bag from before. Quickly he took in the car, reaching out with the force as he kept his eyes focused on the man. Now they had moved up the train the cars had become more luxurious. Lined with red plush and silks, a strange take on the ornate, colorful, high-end of the great bazaar, a luxury which no doubt the passengers here could afford. Despite the lavishness of it all he could feel the fear from the passengers, and the raw hostility, barely kept calm behind some sort of a plan, from the...he supposed he could call them terrorists. The man standing at one end of the car, the woman standing guard at the other.

Seeing the distraction, a man in the back slowly took to his feet, Tyro could sense him drawing a weapon, trying to make a break for it. The terrorist woman must have noticed too, and in one swift motion she landed a solid strike on the man who with an anguished cry fell to, blaster clattering to the floor in front of him. The woman retrieved it. In that instant the terrorist man pulled a large, military grade blaster from his duffel. It was met with the intended reaction, more screams.

"From here on out, consider yourselves hostages!" The man announced to the car. "I'm sure some of you are thinking 'Why me?' and other crap like that, but I assure you, each and every one of you deserves this. And before you think your lives have value to me, they don't. That's why I have a whole car of you. So don't try anything cute."

"I advise you stand down." Tyro spoke evenly. The man immediately turned his attention back to the boy who was still standing firmly in front of him. Good, he had their attention now.

The man, however, much to Tyro's frustration looked like he was going to laugh. "Well yes _Sir_." He laughed, pulling up his weapon, clearly demonstrating his intention with it. "Planning on making me? With what kid?"

"Try me," Tyro challenged with a calm shrug.

* * *

**When Gavyn turned around, the kid had vanished**. There was an open window, and he desperately hoped the kid knew what he was doing.

With two swift strokes, Gavyn sliced through the hinges and lock of the metal door between train cars. Inside, the passengers looked shaken, but the suspects were gone. They were going to escape if this was going to turn into a race with them locking doors behind them and he slicing through. Gavyn dashed across and raised his lightsaber to cut open the second door.

In the moment that he paused, he could hear agitated voices, then a sudden gunshot. They had hostages here, he had to act carefully.

Gavyn took a deep breath. He twisted his lightsaber around, dropping the door down onto the floor of the next car. Immediately, he deactivated it, and held his hands up. "Calm down." He said first, commanding what authority he could. The two didn't seem to calm down, however, and rounded their guns on him. "You have hostages. Let's just discuss what you want so nobody needs to get hurt." He continued sympathetically.

He caught sight of the kid behind them. He must have managed to cut them off. It was a good position that they had them flanked, but he wasn't sure what the boy's plan was. If he was a young worker at Agricorps then his fighting skills might be better than average, but still highly limited. The last thing Gavyn wanted was the kid hurt in this incident as well.

"What we want? I was all ready to say there is nothing you could provide me with, but seeing that lightsaber...you're exactly what I want. But you know what? I want them too. You're not negotiating here, you can consider yourself my hostage as well. Now I know you all do that bravery thing, but really now, don't try anything funny. Just because you don't care about pain or death or whatever you Jedi believe, doesn't mean they don't."

The man lifted his hand and Tyro spun around at the gasp of a woman behind them. "No please! Not him! Not me!" The terrorist woman had the blaster she had taken from the passenger who had tried to get up earlier, a young looking businessman in an ornate suit, well done hair, pressed firmly against the man's head. As much as Tyro couldn't care less about nobility, he had to admire the man's firm calm presence with a blaster to his temple like that.

"And in case you don't think we're serious…" in one swift sharp motion, the terrorist man waved his hand down.

The split second it took Tyro to get past the shock of it was a split second too long. The sound was horrible. A blaster bolt was one thing, but at point blank...there was nothing left of the man. The woman behind him, now drenched in his blood, was too shocked to even scream.

Tyro felt like he was going to be sick. The last three years of war, though he had mostly managed to avoid much of the violence, had still shown him more death than he could have imagined, but seeing this...the man had been unarmed, unresisting, and had died for what?

He didn't make it half a step towards the terrorist woman before something hit him in the back of the head, knocking him to the floor of the car. Blearily he thanked first class for its plush carpets before he felt someone roughly lifting him by the collar of his shirt, twisting it tight enough to choke him as he was pulled to his feet.

"I don't even know what to do with you. I'd shoot you now except this blaster doesn't do too good at a range like this."

"Let me go you kriffing son of a bantha!" Tyro spat, hoping he could at least toss some sort of force intention behind something this crude and basic...but that would be wrong too. He didn't plan on dying here or anything, but he wasn't going to take the chance of selling out right before he did.

It was clear that they were beyond simple desperation. If they were citizens down on their luck, Gavyn might have been able to help them. Most beings in the galaxy could be reasoned with. However, these two terrorists were fanatical. Of course, he would do anything that would harm the hostages, but leaving these two walking free would be a mistake. Gavyn nodded slowly, watching them carefully for their next move.

The boy's movement gave Gavyn the opportunity he needed to dash forward. He swung up with his lightsaber, slicing the woman's gun in half. She staggered back, disoriented. She threw the butt end of the gun at him desperately, but Gavyn ducked, and met her with a fierce gaze.

Gavyn watched the terrorist with the boy in a hold. "Let him go." Gavyn commanded calmly, his blue lightsaber humming between them.

"Fine," the man shrugged, releasing Tyro and pulling his hands back. "I think you're missing the point though. Lets see here…how can I show you what you do here doesn't matter. " He paused, taking in all the eyes fixed on him. "Kid, what's the next station? I have a feeling we should be there shortly."

"Why?" Tyro demanded.

"Because I said so."

As much as every fiber in Tyro's body fought against the idea of cooperating in any way, he realized that for the sake of everyone here, he didn't have a choice. "Zanthbrar."

"Hmm, sounds about right. Any minute now."

Tyro suddenly realized what was going on. The train wasn't slowing down, there was no announcement for the stop. The train wasn't going to stop. Then in a moment, the station flew past. "That was odd wasn't it?"

The sour beginnings of dread began to clench at his chest. The terrorists, and whoever else they were with, had control of the train. Tyro wanted to run now and go find and stop whatever else was going to happen, if he could get to the engine room, he was sure he could do something about it but…only his years of discipline at the temple stopped him. He didn't know what their plan was, and if he moved now, he might never know. He might miss something. He couldn't leave these people alone either. And if there was at least one other person controlling the train, he didn't know how many more there would be here. While he felt he could fight his way out of whatever trouble he got into he knew he was barely armed. Someone had to get though, and that Jedi guy had a better chance.

He looked over at the Jedi, catching his eye for a moment. Then, without looking back he inhaled deeply, pulling the force into him, then, letting his breath out, he extended it across the room, wrapping it around both the terrorists, holding them frozen in place. With a flick of his wrist they flew into the air, muffled sounds of protest from clenched jaws, as they remained pinned to the car's gold-plated ceiling.

"I've got this, but they have the train. Whatever they're planning you have to stop it."


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Apparently the train did not appreciate being hacked in two with a lightsaber...

**So… clearly this kid had been trained in the Force.** More than likely he was one of the workers at Agricorps. He was just about the right age… could it be Tyro? There was no time to worry about it. He fished the remaining weapons from their grip, and tossed them through the nearest window.

Gavyn nodded briskly to the young Jedi, and dashed through the door. There were still several passengers cars, and a cargo car between him and the front of the train. He rushed through the first, hardly more than a brown smear down the aisle way. Each car got progressively ornate, until finally he burst into a lavish private car.

Rich satins and velvets draped across the windows and floor. Instead of seating, there was a bar, a couch, much like a senator's drawing room rather than a train car. There was even a chandelier hanging from the ceiling. All of the finery juxtaposed harshly with the three thugs, that opened fire on Gavyn the moment he threw open the door.

The jedi master's lightening quick reflexes aided him, he threw his arms up, catching a blaster bolt near his elbow, knocking his lightsaber from his grasp. He ducked back into the previous car to get his bearings. Gavyn had taken more than his fair share of blaster wounds in the past few years, but it was never a feeling that one got used to. He could smell the burnt flesh and cloth. One thing to the credit of blasters, however, was that you rarely had to worry about bleeding. Shrapnel is what would catch you there.

The three terrorists had him pinned down. There was only the narrow entrance through the door to reach them. If he were on a battlefield right now he'd call in for air support, or have Ace flank the enemy. A couple of deep breaths cleared his head. That kid had flanked enemies before by crawling around through the window. He could do that. He wouldn't even have to fight these guys, he go right for the conductor.

Gavyn pushed himself to his feet, and knocked through the window with his good elbow. The train was still showing no signs of slowing down, but the force helped guide him through the rushing winds. He pulled himself to the roof with one arm, and crouched as low as a man of his stature could. He pushed forward with the tenacity of a bull, his feet threatening to slide across the slick metal roof, but the force anchoring him soundly in place. He dropped down, launching himself feet first into the engine car.

The conductor, unfortunately, was on the opposite side of the car. Gavyn managed to land in a crouch, but the conductor was quick to move. His vibroknife was already in hand, and did not waste a moment diving at Gavyn and slamming it into his knee. This time Gavyn led out a howl of pain, as he pushed the conductor back off of him.

And this was supposed to be short respite on a peaceful planet.

* * *

**The passengers on the train applauded** as the Jedi guy swiftly disarmed the criminals and made his break from the car. What was this, some kind of show? Clearly to them it was. Seeing that the two terrorists were restrained the first class passengers began to get up and chatter. Theories and threats floated past, congratulations and emotionally given promises to him and the Jedi man. Tyro did his best to block it out and focus on holding the two terrorists, racking his brain for an idea of what to do with them next. He didn't have anything to tie them up with, and he certainly couldn't kill them, but he couldn't just stay here either. For some reason he got the looming feeling they were running out of time.

"Tik tok kid." Tyro looked up suddenly to the man; clearly his grip on the force had loosened enough for the man to be able to talk once more. "Or should I say little Jedi?"

Tyro ignored him, glancing around the car, trying to think of an idea. The woman remained still, expression blank but somehow assured as well. What were they planning? And what could he do about it? He realized then that this was always where his master had come in. His former master, he immediately and forcibly corrected himself. This was the point where he would take whoever Tyro had captured and question them, make them tell everything, and then cuff them...or kill them.

"Can't figure it out huh? Let's say I make you a deal?" The terrorist man continued.

"No way in hell I'm negotiating with you scum." Tyro didn't even give him the grace of looking his way.

"Really? It's a simple favor. I was going to use these nice nobles and dignitaries here to prove my point, but this will work much better. All I need for you to do is to call that little Republic Jedi temple of yours. Just, let them know that you Jedi are here, already on this."

"Why." Tyro for a moment considered correcting them, that he was not from the temple or working with the Republic. He wasn't anyone anymore. He could call the temple all they wanted and no one would care. In fact, it would probably be a pretty poor argument for whatever they wanted considering his relation with the council.

"You'll find out soon enough, but for now, you'll find a comlink on my belt. I'll do all the talking, you just have to look pretty. You don't even have to let us down."

"You guys should get out of here," Tyro said to the remaining passengers in the car, at last conceding to his captive's wishes. In an odd mix of casualness and fear which could only be explained by curiosity, the crowd finally drained from the train car.

Blaster fire off echoed down the car, then a moment later, pain. Gasping Tyro grabbed his arm. Had he been shot? He looked around, up at his captives. No one had a blaster. What then?

"Having second thoughts kid?" Tyro felt along his arm gingerly...there was no wound. Then what? He took a moment to concentrate and almost immediately found his answer, echoed through the force. He wasn't hurt, but that Jedi guy was. Who the hell was he?

He needed to get to him fast was what he did know. Without wasting another moment he grabbed the comm from the guy, none too gently, and sent his transmission through. It took a few minutes, but finally Master Windu appeared from what Tyro assumed must have been the war room. "Reval," he addressed Tyro coldly. Tyro tried not to cringe. The Master had never been a fan of his, and the recent events had only made things that much worse between them.

"Give it here kid," the terrorist man commanded. Tyro was secretly a bit thankful as he held up the comm enough to capture the man's image.

"Who are you?" Master Windu demanded.

"Who I am doesn't matter. What you need to know is that we're what's left of that little Separatist 'uprising' you thought you quelched here on Tirahann. I've got a train full of civilians, some nobles and politicians, and two of your little Jedi pets. I estimate we only have about fifteen minutes or so before this makes the news. To put it plainly, this train is gonna blow. Right in front of the nice little embassy you have here. And it was so conveniently located next to transportation too. Waste of real estate."

"What do you want?" Master Windu responded darkly.

"Well I do suppose, now that I think about it, there is something you can give me. Give us…" Master Windu raised an eyebrow expectantly. "War." The Master opened his mouth to protest. "There is nothing further to discuss. I really did just want to let you know what your motivations were, and the lives of your little Republic dignitaries and two Jedi should be enough. End the transmission kid."

Tyro gaped at the man. This was...unbelievable. Before he could do anything else though, a wave of pain shot through his leg. This time he recognized it as not his own, but it caught him totally off guard, and staggering back he dropped the comlink and the transmission ended.

"Oh," said the terrorist man lightly, feigning concern. "You thought you could do something?"

Tyro blocked him out, mind speeding, trying to find a way to get out of this. He could disable an explosive he assured himself. He knew how enough stuff worked that he could guess at least right? But where was it? He had to get to the Jedi Master and warn him, but he also had to find the bomb.

* * *

**Gavyn wobbled to his feet.** He could barely put any weight on his leg with the wound right at his joint. He steadied himself against the wall, biting back groaning from the agony in his leg. He got a sudden sense of danger through the force, and turned to look for someone coming up from the car behind them.

In that moment, the terrorist lunged at him again. Weak on his leg, Gavyn toppled over, landing heavy on the ground. He struggled, trying to push his assailant off of him. Gavyn cursed himself. He was a better fighter than this. His opponent was smaller than him. The jedi was moving slowly, though, being caught by surprise twice now. His injuries were not making this fight any easier. Before he could shake himself free from the attack, he felt a sharp pain in his side, and a sudden rush of warm blood.

With a roar, Gavyn rolled over, slamming the head of the terrorist against the wall. In the seconds it took for the terrorist to recover, Gavyn took a deep breath. He pulled himself away from the attacker, clutching his wounded side with his good arm. He tried to stand back up, but it only took a moment to realize that he was not going to be getting very far, even if he did get to his feet. All he could do was put as much distance between him and the terrorist, who had shaken off his head and was standing back up.

He turned to Gavyn, fury in his eyes. "Kark the bomb. I'm going to kill you myself."

Gavyn's face paled. There was a bomb on board. And he was in no position to find it and disarm it.

* * *

**A moment later there was another flash of pain.** He was prepared for it though this time. It wasn't really like pain at all he realized now, more like a reflection of it. Now he was aware of it, it was enough to alert him, but not distract him if he didn't let it. However he looked at it though, the old guy was in trouble.

"Where is it?" Tyro demanded.

"V'were not going to tell you boy," the woman spat, speaking up for the first time. Tyro didn't have time for this. The Jedi guy didn't have time for this, let alone the entire train. These guys were disarmed and whatever other trouble they might cause, it wasn't going to be as bad as the entire train blowing up. He turned from them and ran, letting them fall a bit more harshly than perhaps he should have. A loud Snap! and a scream of pain followed by another thud echoed after him.

The cars here had completely vacated of passengers, but running a few steps further he quickly found the source of the blaster fire he had heard earlier. Nimbly he just managed to dodge to the side as three terrorists appeared from under the cover of the seats in the car ahead. Without a lightsaber there was no smart way to fight these guys. Well, back out the window it was then, and looking to the broken out window to his left, it seemed that Gavyn had had the same idea.

Moving quickly he crawled his way across the train, following what felt like a trail through the force. Gavyn was up ahead in the front of the train. He kicked through the window, landing in the car below.

The old guy, despite what a mountain of a man he was, was pinned down by another smaller man, vibroknife in hand. Blood oozed steadily from his leg and side. There wasn't time to think, he had to do something now.

"You're exhausted. This fight is too difficult," Tyro told the terrorist firmly, the force swirling around his words filling them with compulsion. Almost immediately his muscles slackened and he began to breathe heavily as he looked over trying to process who this new person in the car might be. "You really ought to sit back."

The man nodded, easing off Gavyn. "I need to sit...for a moment," he murmured almost apologetically.

"Why don't you sleep it off."

"Going to...sleep," the man mumbled, slumping against the side of the car. The vibroknife slipped from his hand and quickly Tyro scurried over and pocketed it.

Gavyn took a deep breath of relief, and pulled himself up to sit against the wall.

Tyro began to marvel that he had just managed to do that at all, but he had more urgent things to do. He turned around, dropping to his knees beside the wounded Jedi, cursing himself for not keeping his bag with all his usual stuff in it with him. He was no healer, but the temple had taught him enough about first aid that he knew he had to stop the bleeding somehow.

Quickly he pulled off the bandana he kept tied around one leg. It wasn't sterile, but considering there wasn't too much to muck around in on this planet, it was pretty clean. "Kriffing hell that hurts!" Tyro swore through clenched teeth as he put pressure on the man's wound. Whatever echo he was feeling though must have been so much worse for the guy.

Busying himself with something else, he looked around trying to take in as much of his surroundings here as he could. He couldn't dwell on any one thing here, there was too much to do. The controls to the train were completely foreign to him, but even still, it looked like someone had welded some of them into position. Perhaps he could re-work the wiring...he had no doubt he could do that, but the time it would take...he hadn't exactly hotwired a train before. Then there was the bomb...wherever or whatever that was. He didn't know where to start…or how to do any of it.

Feeling warm blood soaking through the bandana onto his hand he turned back to the man, panic clearly painted on his face. "I can't stop it," he stammered, not deciding if he was referring to the train, the bomb, or the bleeding. "Look man, you gotta be okay or something, because they're gonna blow this thing up in front of some republic embassy or something and I…" Tyro looked desperately to the Jedi, "I dunno know what to do."

Gavyn was steady and focused when Tyro turned back to him. He had a calm confidence that only came from routine experience dealing with crises. "It is alright." He assured the boy. "Just give me a moment." The Jedi master took a deep breath, closing his eyes, and gathering the Force around him. Gavyn had never been particularly powerful at channeling the Force, but this was one aspect that came naturally to him. He could feel the energy building inside of him, binding his wounds, and filling his body with a renewed energy.

He released his breath slowly, and his eyes flickered open. He bent his elbow, than his knee experimentally. Sore, of course, but now stable and nothing he couldn't push through. He looked down at the bloodied handkerchief. When he tightened it, the boy seemed to feel the pain as though it were his own. And that mind trick to put the terrorist to sleep… that was a powerful use of the Force for a simple Agricorp worker, or even an average Jedi. He would have to have been trained by a master in mind trick.

The details were clicking into place. This kid… he had to be Tyro. For a moment, Gavyn could only gape. This kid was not what he was… expecting. A bright green mohawk, rough street clothes, piercings, and a surly attitude. He was expecting a model jedi, someone who would stand up to evil against all odds. Be wise and composed beyond his years.

Yet, the boy was by his side risking his neck to save a train full of strangers. That courage was undeniable.

This would not be the time to bring up this issue, however. They both needed to get out of this train situation alive first. "We have to find that bomb." Gavyn commanded as he stood up to his full, towering height.

He pushed open the door to the storage car. A wave of pulsing danger washed over him, and the unshakable feeling that the bomb was close overtook him. He trusted his instincts, as his jedi training had taught. "It is in here." He told the boy. He glanced around the compartment, but everything looked like spare parts and farming equipment. "Any one of these could be the bomb!" He cried, ignorantly. After a few moments of futile rummaging through power cells that, in Gavyn's mind, all looked ready to explode, he turned to the door to the luxury compartment. "This is taking too long, I'm going to get the passengers away from here."

Gavyn dashed into the luxury compartment, pushing the terrorist who had shot his arm into a wall as he charged through. He reached out, and called his lightsaber into his hand, feeling safe and powerful again. The terrorist fired a few shots in his direction, as Gavyn drove the lightsaber into the rubberized connection between the two high-speed cars. He was going to cut away the rest of the train, and get it away from the bomb.

* * *

**Tyro rushed after the man into the next car,** still astounded at how the Jedi had healed himself so fast like that. Like everything else he felt he needed to process after today, this too would have to wait. Immediately he saw the bomb. Tyro turned to the old guy, who was still looking under seats and checking anything and everything else in the area. "It's right here," he said plainly, with a quick glance and the smallest hint of a grin.

This was no jerry-rigged-in-the-last-minute piece of hardware...it was some of the best work he had seen. They had clearly been planned for a long time. He could stop this now, but there was a much deeper problem here. Wind whipped around the the now open end of the car where the Jedi master had separated it from the rest of the train, and Tyro couldn't help but think of all the other issues there would be once they solved even this one piece, but taking a deep breath he centered himself and set to work.

It took a bit of thinking, but the setup was obvious enough. While this wasn't his usual thing, this wasn't his first time doing this either. It was just a matter of destroying the circuit that went to the charge, without activating it. The scale of this thing was impressive, he could tell it was rigged up to explosives thought this car and the engine. It would have been quite an explosion...if it had got that far. Tyro worked swiftly, concentrating hard, blocking out everything else.

"Okay, I just about got it," Tyro thought out loud in Gavyn's general direction. "That wasn't so bad. But we still gotta stop this thing, and we left those other passengers with those other terrorist guys." Something behind him shifted. "Gavyn?"

Something slammed into him hard, knocking him to the ground. Before he could gather his senses enough to take in his assailant he heard the distinctive hum of a lightsaber activating. Blue light washed across the floor as Tyro pushed himself back up. The terrorist man he had put to sleep earlier must have woken up. How long had he been working on that bomb? What it all meant is that he didn't have much time left, he had to finish this now. There was one thing left...and there! "Done."

There was no time to savor the victory. No sooner had he turned back to the fight then the terrorist lunged at him, diving to the side of Gavyn's lightsaber. Tyro stepped back, dodging blow after blow from whatever metal bar the man had picked up. From the way he was swinging the thing, it was no wonder Gavyn had been having difficulty with the guy. Tyro couldn't help feel a bit satisfied at his skill in dodging, this guy wasn't even close to hitting him. He ducked, feeling the wind whip at his jacket. The wind...he was too close to the open back of the train car. The split second he took to realize it was a split second he needed to dodge.

He didn't even feel pain as the crowbar smashed into his head. Just silence, as he felt himself falling backwards. The worst part was the helplessness, he realized, struggling to get his body to do something, anything, to keep himself from landing on the ground flying hundreds of kilometers an hour past them. Vaguely he felt a strong arm wrap around him, before everything went black.

* * *

**Gavyn held the kid close** as he backed away from the gaping rush that cutting loose the train cars had left in the back of the car. Was it just him, or without the extra weight was the train actually moving faster now? He gently rested the boy against a wall, the mark from the blow to his head getting redder and redder by the moment.

Gavyn reached out to heal the wound, but the terrorist grabbed his neck from behind. As the attacker pulled him back, trying to strangle him, Gavyn aggressively pushed backward as well, slamming him against a cargo locker. The grip around his neck lost, Gavyn spun around, landing a punch across the terrorist's jaw. The second punch knocked his head against the locker again, and the attacker slumped miserably to the floor. Gavyn could sense that he was still alive, but this time he would not be waking up anytime soon.

The wind whipped at Gavyn's hair, reminding him that although the passengers were safe, and the bomb was disarmed, they were still on a high-speed collision course that could still cause untold destruction. He looked back at the kid, who was still out cold. Gavyn felt himself wanting his help, but he pushed his feelings aside. He was the Jedi Master here. This was his responsibility.

He made his way to the engine. The walls were an array of blinking buttons, whistling alarms, and flashing readouts. Apparently the train did not appreciate being hacked in two with a lightsaber. Well, if it worked for the train cars, it would work in the engine. Gavyn drove his lightsaber into the panel as far as he could. It sizzled, throwing smoke and sparks in his face as the metal twisted and sagged, like a final cry of a dying animal. Finally, the lights blinked their last, and the roar of the engine died with them, leaving only the roar of the wind steadily slowing.

Gavyn made his way back to the kid, and sat with him while he made the calls to the proper authorities. He was grateful when they arrived with an extra speeder for him to borrow and directions to Agricorps, which fortunately was not too far away. The use of the Force that this boy displayed suggested that would also be his home. He wanted to keep an eye on the kid, and make sure that he recovered from that blow to the head, since he was still unconscious.

When he arrived, he carried the boy to the closest tent. Two robed workers looked up, they did not quite look like Jedi, nor did they look like average farmers. "My name is Master Gavyn Jervada. I am looking for Tyro Reval, and I believe I've found him."


	4. The Offer

Gavyn chose to wait quietly by Tyro's side. The Jedi at Agricorps confirmed his suspicions that the boy from the train was the young Padawan he was looking for. He felt a responsibility toward him, if their encounter together on the train wasn't enough, Gavyn was certain now that he wanted Tyro with him as his student.

The boy was not what he was expecting. He was wiry, and rough around the edges, more suited for crawling around the undercity than leading the Grand Army of the Republic. But he was exceptionally brave, skilled with the Force, and powerful… or would be with some more training. After all that time being mentored by a Jedi who had clearly gone dark, Gavyn could tell that the boy was still pure of heart, with nothing but the best intentions.

As Gavyn reapplied a cold towel to the boy's wound, he started to stir.

Tyro opened his eyes to a dark room and a pounding headache. Vaguely he noticed a cool cloth on his head and someone sitting nearby. So the mission had gone like that then...at least it didn't sound or smell like he was at the healer's. This had happened a few times before, last time he had been poisoned fighting off some assassins with his master. That sucked, worse than this. He had woken to his master sitting with him then too, incredibly worried and relieved at the same time. This was still pretty miserable though. "Master… hurts…" he mumbled, putting a hand up to the wound to feel if it felt as bad as it hurt.

As his eyes adjusted though, the outline of the figure beside him seemed more bulky than he remembered. His master had been smaller, thinner, his movements fluid. Confused, Tyro looked through the force rather than his eyes. That too seemed strange, this was a steady, calm presence. He had always remembered his master as being more quick, flighty, fidgety even. Fast and sharp, with a constantly active mind, jumping and flowing from one connection to the next. This felt more controlled, strong rather than powerful, concerned rather than worried. He felt like he was missing something here. Maybe he'd hit his head harder than he thought.

A lump caught in Gavyn's throat when the boy called him Master. He tried to let the feeling go immediately, just in case he was getting his hopes up. That was his title after all.

"Don't touch it." Gavyn advised. The wound had come a long way towards healing, even in just a few hours. Jedi recovered quickly, and his own presence, and healing ability helped it along as well. The lump was reduced significantly, and even some of the redness was going away.

Tyro reluctantly pulled his hand back. He tried to focus enough on the force to relieve some of the pain, but he was having trouble concentrating at the moment. "This has to be the suckiest birthday ever," he sighed to himself, barely a whisper. That thought brought him suddenly back to the present. He didn't have a master anymore, he had turned him over to the Jedi council over a month ago. If this was his former master here with him then...it would not be good. The man had never hurt him in any way, in fact, he had been incredibly kind. Just thinking about the look on his face when he had rushed into the council room looking for Tyro, worried to death that he had gone missing, only to find out Tyro was turning him over instead, turned Tyro's stomach to knots. There was a terrifying moment of apprehension...what if it was him…what would that mean?

Realizing he was getting emotional he took a deep breath. He had had a month to process this now, he had it sorted out, he had done what was best. His eyes were adjusting to the low light in the room as the moons shown through the window, and that voice…was definitely not his master. It was the Jedi general from the train. "Oh, Master Jervada," he acknowledged, looking away, face burning with embarrassment.

"Tyro Reval." Gavyn nodded back, hardly able to contain his enthusiasm. He knew that when he told the boy he was going to take him away from here and give him a second chance to become a Jedi Knight, he would be ecstatic. After all, he was too old to be taken as a Padawan as far as most Jedi Masters were concerned, but Gavyn needed someone who had some more experience to bring on his sort of missions. Nothing against the life of the farmers and workers in Agricorps, but the life of a Jedi Knight was certainly the most glamorized of the Jedi paths. And Tyro hardly looked like the farming type.

"I actually came to Agricorps here to find you Tyro, and I think the Force drew us together on the train." Gavyn explained excitedly. "I want you to be my student, Tyro, and continue your training to become a Jedi Knight. It will be a second chance, and an opportunity to serve in the Clone Wars." Gavyn smiled expectantly, feeling like he had just made all of Tyro's dreams come true.

Tyro looked back to the man, shocked. "Wait...lemme get this straight, you want me to…no."

As the words reflexively spilled from his mouth his heart sank. For the tiniest fraction of a moment it felt like everything was going to work out, being a Jedi Knight was what he had always aspired to, all he had ever wanted. At the very least he was wishing now that he could have enjoyed that feeling for just a second longer.

"No. I can't." Tyro looked down from the man's face, clutching once again at his aching head. Maybe the man had been on the frontlines of the war so long he didn't know...or something.

It wasn't like he had been banished, although some of the more offended council members certainly treated it that way. No, he knew and accepted, from the moment he even began to think about turning in his master, that he would no longer be a padawan, he was no longer going to become a Jedi knight. The Jedi order, what he had believed in so wholey, was prepared to give his life for, was not the infallible beacon of light he had always believed in. He couldn't trust any of them anymore, and from this guy's bloodthirsty reputation, he couldn't trust him either. "Look, I know why you're really here. Those guys on the train, they were trying to bring the war back to Tirahnn."

It took a moment for Gavyn to process Tyro's rejection. He couldn't fathom… couldn't imagine… His face fell, slowly at first, and then with a mighty crash. He looked down, ashamed that he had the arrogance to just assume that Tyro would want to come with him.

"Oh. I'm… sorry."

Maybe the boy turned in his master to get out of being a Jedi Knight. Maybe he was disillusioned, and wanted to put as much space between him and the council as possible. Gavyn stood up and backed away from the bedside. After coming all this way, he should have thought of this possibility sooner.

He was in the middle of the thought when Tyro's words stung him deeper. As though Tyro was just some afterthought or impulse-buy. He cut across half the galaxy to find him. He left the front to find him. And the kid thought that a General would show up alone, out of the blue, to stop a couple of extremists? Gavyn could only look back wounded, how do you begin to admit that in the wake of such a rejection?

"I'll leave you to rest then." He said as abruptly as he left the tent. A concern did linger, about those terrorists. There might be a much larger network than they met on the train. Gavyn made his way back to a guest tent. Any extremists would have to wait until he had a chance to clear his mind.

As Gavyn turned away, Tyro could feel the man's crushing disappointment seeping through the force. A Jedi was usually more in control of his emotions, for him to be so upset Tyro felt it...except Tyro had a feeling that this was something different. It was like the things he had felt from the Jedi on the train. A lump formed in Tyro's throat and he tried to swallow it down, as though that might do anything to make this sinking feeling go away. Had he done the right thing?

Tyro found himself wanting to justify it all to the man. He had responsibilities here, a life, people that needed him. He worked with Agricorps now. He was the best person here at fixing machines up and setting up and organizing the computerized systems. Clearly the force had done this, this last whole year, to bring him here, now, where he was needed. The order, and the war for that matter, didn't need just another soldier.

Besides, this was what being fourteen now meant-he was old enough to be able decide who he was, and to stand by his decisions. This, he decided, was what the force wanted. This was where he could do the most good. So Tyro curled up with his pounding headache, lukewarm cloth, and tears; almost, but not quite alone.


	5. The Drive

All that was left of the night before was a dull ache and a colorful bruise. Tyro took the time to change yesterday's shirt after sleeping in it and all, and located his jacket and boots where someone had left them.

Yesterday's events still weighed heavy on his mind, most prominently that Jedi master asking him to join the Jedi Order, and the Grand Army of the Republic for that matter. That was selfish though, because the whole event with the train that had happened as well. There was clearly an elaborate and dangerous plot behind it. People had been killed yesterday, brutally murdered in front of him. He still couldn't get the image out of his mind of that passenger who had been shot in the head.

For the first time in a while Tyro felt like he had needed to meditate. It was already fairly late in the day, but no one had come in to bother him to do anything yet, so they probably assumed he needed some time to recover. Finding a comfortable position on the ground, he closed his eyes, settling himself into the force. He sat like that for a few minutes, but found himself distracted. The scene on the train, the deaths replayed in his head over and over again. He could have done something, he was right there. He reasoned further-they had been successful, saved so many more. And death, he had dealt with it before, he knew how to let that stuff go. So why would none of this get out of his head?

Determined to get this right he reached for what he had done back at the temple. He took a deep breath, filling himself with the memories of letting himself fall into the force, letting it guide him. His master there in the force with him, leading him, foraging on ahead. Together they were powerful, drew strength from it. Suddenly a piece clicked into place-power-of course that was what his former master had meditated for, to gain power. That was so…screwed up.

Feeling suddenly violently ill Tyro rushed from the tent to the camp's latrine. Crouching down he rocked back and forth on his heels, trying to decide if he was going to be sick or not.

Rinsing his face with cool water did more for him than the meditation had. Focusing on the present was what he had to do. First, he needed to re-buy all those machine parts he had picked up yesterday. There was no way he was getting back the ones from yesterday. Shame, because he had already gotten the best deals, there wouldn't be anything new so soon.

"Tyro," Miss Mina greeted him as he made his way out to the front of the Agricorps camp. "How are you feeling?" The look in her dark gray-green eyes clearly telling him she had already formed an opinion about this. The woman's short curly graying brown hair and sun-wrinkled face gave the impression that she was much more terse than she was in reality.

Tyro shrugged, having nothing but a negative answer to give. Instead he focused on what needed to be done. "I picked up those parts yesterday, but they got lost on the train after everything and all…I'm gonna need to go pick up some new ones today." There were people relying on those repairs.

Mina nodded in agreement. "Speaking of that, the trains are out. You're going to have to think of some other way to get to the bazaar if you want to go today."

"That won't be good for business…" Tyro thought out loud as he looked around absently, trying to think what he could do. Almost as if the force had planted it there, his eyes landed on a speeder parked by some of the tents.

"Hey, whose speeder is this?" Tyro called, walking over to it.

"Oh, that's Master Gavyn Jervada's."

Tyro stopped in his tracks. "We don't have another one do we." It was a statement as much as a realization.

"No, just go ask him. He seemed like the nice sort as those Jedi Knights can be when they aren't hunting down a mission."

Yeah, those Jedi Knights…Tyro considered despondently. "Thanks" he replied.

* * *

**Gavyn sat on the edge of a fence** , looking across the rolling fields and sipping on a cup of hot tea. Despite his wounds closing up, he didn't feel much better after sleeping for a while. While the Force might have brought him here to look into the terrorist ring after all, he still felt disappointed that he would be returning to his post alone. And regarding the terrorist case anyway, if the Force was leading him to it, Gavyn would think that it is about time a fresh clue show up.

A snap of a twig behind him caught Gavyn's attention. He turned to see the boy, back on his feet.

Tyro approached the Jedi Master tentatively, casting his gaze firmly to the ground before he spoke. "Hey, uh...so that Speeder of yours. Any chance I could borrow it? I need to get into town." His ears glowed red with embarrassment at having to ask anything of this guy after last night, but he knew that the people here needed those parts.

Well, the kid seemed alright now. At least that was worth something. Agricorps would have hurt to lose someone of his talent.

"The speeder isn't mine." Gavyn replied. "I need to return it to the local officials today." He dropped off the fence, tossing dirt into the air like a cloud. "It is in town though, you... can come with me." Gavyn stumbled over the words in the moment that he realized how similar the request sounded to the one he put forth the night before. He gathered his military demeanor to avoid getting flustered.

"I can go as soon as you're ready."

"Whenever's cool," Tyro shrugged.

Tyro silently followed the man as they loaded into the speeder. He normally wasn't the talkative sort, and this was an awkward mix of feeling like he needed to say something but not wanting to start talking. He sat stiffly, a strained version of what might have otherwise been proper posture for a Jedi Knight, staring straight ahead, hands clenched, resting on his legs. He tried to not fixate upon the events of last night, nor the morning's failed mediation; anchoring himself instead in his hunger and the fact he had missed breakfast. Imagining what he would buy at the bazaar to eat.

Gavyn could feel the tension radiating from the two of them. It was understandable, they had every reason to be friendly, from the incident on the train, but the reaction from last night soured the mood. Gavyn decided it would be best to focus on the positives.

"So you did pretty well during that crisis on the train yesterday". Gavyn remarked, loudly over the wind whipping across the speeder.

"Uh...Thanks. You did too." Tyro was going to leave it at that, short and impersonal but, not knowing the rest of the story from last night was nagging him. "What happened...after, you know I…? And thanks by the way," Tyro ventured, staring firmly at his knees.

Gavyn glanced at Tyro with a raised eyebrow. "Don't worry, you didn't miss any excitement. The authorities showed up, I borrowed the speeder, and piloted over to Agricorps." The jedi explained simply. "It was no problem at all." And Gavyn meant it. He was accustomed to hauling full grown, armored troopers with half their guts spilling out across a hot battlefield. He had healed much worse than a bumped head in his career.

The speeder banked as Gavyn steered down a fork in the road towards the city in the distance.

Tyro nodded, staring at the city on the horizon. Perhaps it had felt like nothing happened but Tyro felt like he was missing something still. For some reason this didn't feel over. From the vibes he was getting from the Jedi master, something was definitely still not right. He sat quietly for another moment, knowing what he was going to say, running over the words in his head, but able to say them yet. "You're...okay right?" Tyro looked over at the, really taking him in for the first time. He seemed so serious. Quickly returning his gaze to his hands Tyro explained himself "I mean, you felt like you got pretty hurt."

Tyro's question took Gavyn by surprise. He was either quite insightful, or it had been written all over his face. That was bad form for a Jedi, who was supposed to be free from emotion. Regardless of his embarrassment, Gavyn knew better than to lie about his feelings, however. "I admit that I expected you to be excited for a chance to return to your training to become a Jedi Knight. The path has never been so crucial in the fate of the Galaxy since the Sith War." It was true, as a youngling Gavyn could never have imagined that he would become a General, commanding thousands of troops across numerous systems. He expected to be a peacekeeper, working with troops for a few weeks or months at a time before moving on to the next small conflict.

Gavyn glanced in Tyro's direction, nostalgically. "At your age I wanted nothing more than to be a Jedi Knight. But I can understand if you've lost your taste for it." He observed.

"I do…or I did." More than anything. "But I can't. It's not like I wanted to...not.." Tyro was sure to say it all calmly, as emotionless as possible, he had been over this before, there was nothing about this that could get to him still he found himself struggling to explain what he meant. "You don't know what happened."

"I didn't just show up here out of the blue, Tyro." Gavyn explained calmly, but sternly. "I am aware of why you are here." Gavyn thought that stepping away from a Master who was falling towards the dark side was a very courageous thing to do. It was the makings of a future Jedi knight, although Gavyn could understand why most Jedi would be afraid he had already been exposed to too much of the dark side under his master's tutelage.

Half-abandoned shacks started to fade away into more sturdy structures as the road began to appear more and more traveled. They were getting close to the market. "I wasn't aware that you chose Agricorps over becoming a Padawan. If I had, I would have stayed with the Legion and saved us both the time."

The man's words caught him by surprise and Tyro swallowed the comeback already halfway to his mouth. The accusation stung. It wasn't like that. Defensively he pulled a leg up onto the seat next to him. Wrapping his arms around himself and resting his head on his knee he stared blankly at the increasingly colorful buildings flying past. "I didn't." Tyro muttered sullenly. It hadn't been a choice. It had been the only option, no one would take him. Turning in his master was the end of his path toward knighthood. Knowing that, he had to protect himself from that reality in any way possible, to accept it like the Jedi he was supposed to be. "You don't get it at all."

Tyro's attitude was starting to make more sense to Gavyn, despite the accusation that he didn't understand. He was sent to Agricorps, but while taking responsibility for the choice that landed him there, he was trying to accept this post so it didn't feel quite so much like a punishment. Gavyn had felt similar when he felt the weight of guilt after Essessles. He had to fight the urge to just accept the identity of a ruthless General that seemed to be thrown at him. In some ways it was easier to accept that image, because it seemed to ease the guilt, but Gavyn found out it was just a way to hide his feelings instead of letting them go.

"Look, I can't imagine what pain you've gone through. Corruption is a far worse fate for the people you look up to than anything else. But you have to be careful that you don't shut out the rest of the galaxy because your trust was betrayed. If you look around there are always opportunities to" redeem yourself "find your calling." There was some free Jedi Master counsel for the boy. It didn't matter if Tyro didn't want to come with him or not, it was clear that the poor kid was lost.

Gavyn parked the speeder next to a security officer on duty and tossed him the keys after hopping over the door. He turned to Tyro. "There are a couple things I want to pick up before I get a transport back to the 122nd. Will you be able to get a ride back to Agricorps?"

"Yeah, I'll figure it out. I always do," Tyro shrugged nonchalantly, hopping out of the speeder. He started off towards the section of the market he needed to be at, but as the man's words sank in he turned back. The sentiment true enough, but Tyro had "his calling" right here.

He stood there for a moment, trying to sort it all out. Perhaps he could at least help Gavyn find whatever he needed to pick up in the bazaar, it was pretty big and confusing after all. But the man seemed so tough, so confident, so fierce, standing there, towering above everyone else, his massive frame filling out his robes. Nah, the guy clearly had everything set already. He was a general after all, he could handle some shopping.

"Uh," Tyro started quietly. He wasn't even sure if the man heard him. "Good...bye then," he mumbled before turning back to his responsibility to the broken machinery of Tirahnn.


	6. Market Mayhem

**Gavyn smelled about a dozen different pouches of seasonings** before finally asking the salesperson her recommendation. He traded a couple of coins, unwilling to part with even a few of the credits that he was allowed as a member of the Jedi Order. This was a personal errand, and the seasonings for bringing back to Ace. Ace had few chances to eat anything beyond nutritional wafers and sludge before Geonosis. He leapt at any chance to try a new food, no matter how exotic or strange. He also discovered cooking could be used to make food delicious, and not just as a safety precaution, as his clone training led him to understand. He'd appreciate having something unique to sprinkle onto the star cruiser cafeteria food.

As he tucked the parcel into his robes, another market patron crashed into him hard. Gavyn caught him the best he could, and looked up see three masked people carrying concussion guns. Another pointed at a nearby booth, a loud _thoom_ rattled the arches and overhangs above as the baskets of goods at the booth flew into the air like a fireworks display.

Gavyn's lightsaber was alight in his hand in a moment. One of the concussion guns rounded on him, he threw out his hand instinctually just as he heard the distinctive _thoom_. Channeling the force, he redirected the kinetic blast, and threw the three attackers backwards into a booth selling cooking utensils.

The crowd was quickly thinning, and Gavyn ran across the bazaar to catch the attackers. They were groggily trying to sit up amid the rubble of the stand. The most upright spat in his direction. "Peace is an illusion, Jedi scum!" Gavyn snarled in his direction, these were clearly of the same lot as the ones on the train. Fanatical, and impossible to reason with. Before he could detain them, however, he heard another concussion gun fire down the block.

* * *

**"Back again? Didn't think I'd see you for at least another week."**

"Yeah, well…" Tyro didn't have much to say aside from a sassy comeback, and after the violence of yesterday, he couldn't bring himself to make any such comment.

"Business has been a smelling heap of poodoo today. Reckon it was those activists or whatever they were takin' out the trains on the west end of town. Don't think they realize we have an economy here to" maintain!" The merchant grabbed his belly in a boisterous laugh.

Tyro forced a smile for diplomacy's sake. "So, as your one loyal customer you're gonna give me a deal then, right?"

"Ha! You're kiddin' me! That's not how this works boy. I still gotta make a livin' and now there's less of you guys to sell to."

Fewer, Tyro mentally corrected. "Well I guess I'll have to go see what Frenk down the way's got," Tyro shrugged, walking off.

"Aheh!" the merchant let out a final laugh before realizing he was losing his only customer. "Awww, Tyro, you know it is not like that." Tyro paused, looking back over his shoulder with a raised eyebrow. "It is just, you bought the best of my stock yesterday and-" Tyro turned back down the street, waving without looking back. "Ah no no! For you...Two! Two percent off! No Three? Five!"

Tyro grinned, trying not to laugh, estimating how long he could stand here for a fair price for both of them. Then suddenly, a an explosion echoed through the stalls of the market. He spun around, looking for the source. Dust rose a in the distance. What had happened? An accident...or more of what he had seen yesterday? It didn't matter, he could likely get there before the local authorities. He started running.

"Ah! Six...seven percent! No!"

He had only made it a few strides though before he felt a warning ripple through the force. It was strange, as far as jedi went he wasn't quite the pre-cognitive sort, and rarely felt this sort of thing, but when he did it wasn't like this. It was almost like yesterday when he was sensing stuff through… "Gavyn…" he muttered, breaking into a sprint. A few seconds later there was a scream, then a deep boom echoed from behind him, a rush of air. In an instant, Tyro spun around. A shockwave blasted forward through the stalls, ripping them apart. Immediately Tyro threw his hands up, dissipating the blast with the force while simultaneously stopping the flying debris in midair before they could hurt anyone. Tyro ran to the wreckage, slowly letting items down from his grip once he could confirm that no one would be hurt. He scanned through the mob of people running and screaming, but he could not find the source of the attack. Then something grabbed his shoulder.

Tyro spun around, ready to attack, but stopped short. It was only Dien, the merchant from before.

"For saving my life, I give you ten percent off!" Dien announced boldly, a slight shake in his voice.

"That's great Dien, but not now!" From the corner of his eye he saw rushed violent movement. A man carrying some kind of military grade weapon pushed his way through a protesting crowd. That had to be the guy. Finally making his way out of the thick of the crowd he rushed forward, running to where the first attack had been. Immediately Tyro took off after him, ripping Dien's grip from his shoulder.

The man was fast, but Tyro was faster. Within moments he was gaining on him. Then the terrorist disappeared into another crowd up ahead. For a moment, Tyro thought he could glimpse him as he pushed his way through the crowd. Yep, that was definitely it. He followed a distinctive bandana the guy had tied around his neck. Pushing one final person aside Tyro reached out and grabbed the man's shoulder, forcing him roughly around. Only then did he realize his mistake as he was met with the angry face of a Sullustan. " _Sithspit_ ," Tyro hissed, as he pushed his way past the man, to the front of the crowd. He looked up taking in the scene before him, only to lock eyes with Gavyn once more.

* * *

**Gavyn skidded to a stop on his way towards the sound** of the second concussion blast when he nearly collided with Tyro. The market was a big place, it surprised him that they bumped into each other again. He did hear stories about Masters and their Padawans being pulled together through the force, but he wondered if that was just wishful thinking, finding meaning in a coincidence. There was no time to meditate on it, however.

"More of those extremists from the train!" Gavyn quickly explained as he glanced around the bazaar. "Did you see which way they went?"

"Uhhh…" Tyro looked around quickly, trying to see if he could pick up on the guy again. A moment later he saw a flash of that bandana again. Looking closer, this was definitely the guy this time. "Over there! C'mon!" Tyro exclaimed, grabbing onto the Jedi's sleeve, as so not to lose him in the mob as he took off towards the terrorist.

Tyro wove quickly between the pushing and shoving crowd, knowing that Gavyn was right behind him. The terrorist already had a head start though, and they were barely making any progress against the sea of people pushing every which way. Tyro was lucky to catch an occasional glimpse of the guy. The man was picking up his pace though, they were losing ground. "We need to move faster!" He grumbled, pushing forward.

If Tyro hadn't looked up just then he wouldn't have noticed the terrorist again, standing on top of the scaffolding that ran across several stalls. After looking over the crowd for a moment, the man hefted his weapon, pointing it down the busy street. A moment later there was a shrill scream. Someone else had noticed too apparently, people began pointing and looking. Then crowding and yelling. Tyro pushed at the people around him but the panicked crowd was impossible to move through.

There was an unmistakable hum as the weapon began to charge up for the blast. "No, move! Go!" Tyro yelled, but his own voice was lost in roar and panic from the crowd. "Run! You have to-"

Then, with a deep _thoom!_ the terrorist fired. Tyro could only watch in horror as the blast sped towards the crowd. There were screams as people were thrown, Tyro winced, feeling the disturbance ripple through the force. Then suddenly, with a metallic clang! it all stopped. The crowd looked around confused as Tyro.

A clearing started to form, and between the bodies of the people surrounding him Tyro could make out the tall, broad metal body of a B2 Super Battle droid, with, oddly enough a man sitting on its shoulder. Tyro gasped at the sight of the thing...a battle droid- in the middle of a crowded street of civilians. With a whirr the droid quickly spun and in a brilliant flash, it shot a bolt from the cannon on its arm, hitting the terrorist solidly. As the man fell the droid grabbed him its rigid grasp. Tyro quickly looked up to Gavyn, the Jedi Master dealt with this all the time, he would know what to do.

The crowd began to silence, and turning back, Tyro watched as the man stood up on the shoulder of the droid, towering above the rest of the crowd.

"People of Tirahnn! Do not fear!" The man announced, standing tall and bold-chested. "The danger is gone, I have caught the Republic terrorist!"

There were murmurs and gasps from the crowd. "No…" Tyro mouthed, eyes fixed on the man as he continued to speak. So this was their plan then...yesterday, when they said they were here to bring the war back to Tirahnn.

"Has not their war already caused enough damage here? How many of you lost your homes? Your businesses? And now this? We will stand for this no longer! The Republic is not here for us at all! They are here to take control of Tirahnn, but not responsibility! You do not need to republic to lead you. To control you. To terrorize you. You deserve your freedom!"

There was a hearty cheer from the crowd as they rallied around the man. The air tasted of unrest, anger, violence. "It is time to show that we can be free from violence!" The man threw his fist into the air, and with it, the crowd yelled in agreement. "Free from laws that govern this planet's trade!" Another fist pump. More cheering. Applause. "It is time we stand up for ourselves. Time to separate from the Republic, once and for all!" The crowd absolutely roared.

"Gavyn…" Tyro spoke, not daring turn back to the man so obviously dressed in Jedi robes behind him. "What now?"

Gavyn tensed at the sight of the super battle droid. That was some serious military equipment, that could quite possibly do a lot of damage in a crowd of civilians like this. His hand drifted to the hilt of his lightsaber, but someone was rallying the people.

"Stay calm." Gavyn replied quietly. He glanced over his shoulder to catch the Tyro's eye, matching the boy's confusion and fear with confidence and steadiness. Gavyn had dealt with many crises such as this in his career as a Jedi. In fact he had dealt with this kind of issue far more often before the Clone Wars began, traveling from system to system and quelling this sort of unrest.

Gavyn stood up straight, towering above most of the people in the crowd, due to sheer stature. He walked deliberately towards the battle droid and the shouting fool on top of it. His path cut a reverently silent line through the crowd of otherwise riled citizens. By the time he stood firmly in front of the Super Battle Droid, the silence had spread like an infection.

Although the agitator sat high above Gavyn's head, the Jedi General had a distinct way of seeming larger, looking at the man as though he were a troubled child. "Get down from that droid." He told the man, directly and firmly, but no louder than he needed to be to talk man to man. This was not about riling up the crowd, or having them take one side or another. This was between him and the terrorist who was trying to bring war back to these people's doorsteps.

"You and I both know that those were not agents of the Republic. These are good, peaceful people, and they are not going to fall for your warmongering." Gavyn spoke the facts with the unshakable authority of a Jedi Master.

Tyro watched in awe as the Jedi Master effortlessly parted the crowd, before following slightly behind him. He had expected the guy, being a general and all, to fight the man and the droid, or come up with some elaborate escape plan, but this was impressive, amazing. The Jedi never raised a finger, or even his voice, and yet everyone was listening. He spoke softly, yet his deliberate words carried across the crowd.

The man on the droid looked surprised, and took a moment to collect his thoughts before he could speak again. "General," he mouthed, expression shifting to satisfaction. "Warmongering? Speak for yourself. There can be no war with on one to fight, yet I see you are here. As you have said, these are good people, and I shall leave them with peace." With a mocking bow and half grin the man turned to leave, his droid hefting its prize of the stunned, limp terrorist it held in it's hand victoriously above the crowd.

The insult flung in Gavyn's direction only served to make him swell with vindicated confidence. Despite his reputation he wasn't here to warmonger. He was here to become the mentor of a young jedi- or at least he tried to be. Tomorrow Gavyn would be gone, and this terrorist group would find it hard to start a war with nobody wanting to fight… just as they said. He had a feeling that this movement was not going to take root. Merchants and traders had no interest in prolonging a war, and the Republic offered them a multitude of friendly star systems to trade with.

As he passed back through the market, he stopped near Tyro. He flashed the kid a crooked smile, trying not the let the disappointment of a goodbye weigh him down. "It seems to be getting pretty crazy around here. I can't say I expected so much excitement on a visit to Agricorps."

"Yeah," Tyro grinned back, matching the Jedi's smile. "Can't say I did either. It's kinda like…" he stopped then, smile falling. The life of an Agricorps member was support the citizens of this planet in making sure they had their basic needs met to survive, not fending off terrorists and learning their plans and secrets. There were plenty of Jedi Knights the order had set aside for that.

Gavyn waited a moment expectantly for Tyro to finish his thought. When it became clear that he wouldn't, he cleared his throat and looked around the crowds slowly returning to their business. "Well." He announced. "I need to get to a transport." He caught Tyro's eye. "It was good to meet you, Tyro. May the Force be with you on your path." He nodded a quick bow before stepping into the direction of the spaceport.


	7. Sidewalk Miracles

**Tyro nodded absently** , watching as Gavyn walked off. So that was it then. Whatever kind of strange thing the force had just thrown him through in the past two days, tempting him back to the life of a knight. He had wanted it. He had wanted it so bad, more than anything else. It had been what his entire life had been devoted to, when he wasn't practicing, he read stories, histories, of the knights of old, defending the galaxy, from the sith and other evil. He could have just told the Jedi yes the other day and he could have it all back, except no, he knew that wasn't true at all, just like the fairy tales. He couldn't go back. It wouldn't be...right after everything that had happened. But he couldn't say why either. And as this morning had shown, he couldn't even meditate long enough to sort through why.

There were things more valuable. The force had led him to understand that. It had been more important that he stop his former master. And right now it was more important that he fulfill his duty here, live out his life, follow what the force wanted.

Tyro let out the breath he had been holding, looking to it now for it's guidance. Like this morning, it had nothing for him. Just the hum of the market, slightly stirred up after the events that had just transpired, and Gavyn, whatever that guy's deal was, sticking out like a beacon.

Perhaps, Tyro considered already walking in the right direction, he should at least offer to see the guy off the planet. It was probably what was appropriate. His errands could wait a few more minutes, Tyro reasoned, as he picked up his pace.

In no time at all he had caught up to the man, but he didn't dare go any closer. They had already said their goodbyes, and the guy was clearly busy. Instead he simply took a seat on a stack of nearby empty barrels, watching from a distance.

* * *

 **Gavyn did not get too far in the direction of the spaceport** before a voice in the crowd called out as Gavyn passed by.

"Jedi!"

He turned, looking for the source. They must be calling him, since Tyro was not around, and was not dressed much like a Jedi regardless. "Jedi, I need your help." And Gavyn spotted a small group huddled around a shopkeeper. Gavyn hurried over, immediately sensing a disturbance in the Living Force. She was injured.

"Where are you hurt?" He asked, kneeling next to the woman.

"I think… I think my arm is broken." She hissed out, through gritted teeth.

Gavyn placed a roughened hand on her arm. He could feel the distress clearly. "You're going to be fine." He reassured reflexively as he reached out with the Force to strengthen her, and to ease some of her pain. Gavyn lost himself in meditation, and when his eyes flickered back open, he could have sworn the sun changed. He could lose a lot of time healing another if the injury was severe enough.

In the time he was meditating a queue had gathered as well. As the woman stood up and flexed her arm, her family hugging her and grinning, Gavyn's eyes trailed towards a row of people, clutching injuries and bruises from the earlier attack. They all seemed to expect at least his attention and expertise. This was why he avoided working outside of the Republic Medbays. Just a little bit of violence could create a huge mess of pain to clean up.

Gavyn glanced around the crowd. Maybe someone was a doctor or at least a nurse. "Is there anyone here who can lend a hand?" He asked.

Tyro looked around at Gavyn's request. He knew some of the people here, but no one that he knew to be medically trained. No one seemed to be volunteering either. Quietly, Tyro stepped forward. He had been watching silently as Gavyn helped the woman and the crowd formed around him. The man was different from what he had expected, from both the rumors and his limited interaction with him on the train. As soon as he approached the Jedi Master though he regretted it. The man had already said his goodbye. Tyro couldn't let that stand in the way of him helping the people of this planet though.

"Respectfully," Tyro started, looking down. He wasn't a doctor or a healer or anything. He wasn't useful, but he wanted to be. Anything was better than being helpless. "I'm not...I can't...do that or anything, but if I can help some other way…"

A relieved smile passed briefly over Gavyn's face. It seemed that every which way he turned on this planet, Tyro was there, lending a hand. It was becoming more and more difficult to ignore, and Gavyn couldn't shake the feeling that the Force was throwing them together, trying to make this apprenticeship stick. He would bring it up again after they dealt with the injured civilians.

"Of course." He gestured for Tyro to come closer, so they could speak in relative privacy. "There aren't too many people here." Gavyn, of course, was speaking in relative terms. Fifteen injured in the middle of a market in broad daylight was certainly worthy of a headline, but Gavyn had been in Medbays packed with hundreds, where there were more people who were condemned in triage than there were people waiting here now. "Most probably just need a bandage and some reassurance." Gavyn handed Tyro a roll of cloth. "You start with the least injured. I'll start with the most. Get me if you have any questions or trouble." Gavyn explained with the efficiency of someone who had done this a hundred times before.

"Jedi, Sir..!" One of the distressed family members called out urgently. She was buckling under the weight of what must have been her husband. Gavyn could have sworn he was conscious a moment ago. Gavyn rushed to her side, and helped ease the man to the ground. The woman was shaking, "He hit his head when he got thrown against the wall. I didn't think it was too bad. It isn't even bleeding."

On the outside. Gavyn thought grimly. He looked back at Tyro, worried the boy might try and help him with this and ignore the other patients. "Go." It was half encouragement and half an order.

Tyro nodded, tearing his eyes away from Gavyn and the unconscious man. He couldn't help but think of the colorful bruise on his head he was now sporting, and of how little he had been able to help with the Jedi's wounds yesterday. Tyro allowed the thought for no more than a moment, then quickly pushed it from his mind. That was yesterday, this was today, and he could do something to help here. He looked over the line of injured people, not so much with his eyes, as through the force.

Gavyn's analysis was correct, for the most part he could do something to help the people here with their wounds, or at least get them some ice and stop the bleeding long enough for them to find proper treatment. But some of the other people didn't look too good, and, glancing back to Gavyn, it looked like the Jedi Master would be a while. Then he remembered the med clinic. For a moment he thought of running there himself, but looking to the bandages in his hand and thinking of what Gavyn had just told him to do, there was a better way. Quietly he turned to a man behind him who seemed to just be staring.

"There's a med clinic, six blocks down that way, one block to the right," Tyro instructed. "It's between the pastry and farming supply vendors. I need you to tell them what happened, and that we have fifteen injured and we're going to need their help. Ya got that?"

Tyro turned to the man next to him and asked him to find some ice. Looked like bruises and breaks were a common side effect of concussion guns. As soon as the men were off, Tyro began to see to the wounded as best he could. Basic first aid was familiar, if seldom used skill, and years at the temple had taught him to keep a cool head, but there were a lot of people here, and reassurances were neither practiced, nor a strong suit. His former master had done most of the talking, and while Tyro was allowed input and an opinion, something which he frequently exercised and was encouraged, someone he already knew was a lot different than shrieking family members.

"Er, I'm with the Jedi Agricorps here on this planet and we have training in this type of thing." He found himself explaining to one particularly argumentative man. "Now may I or may I not see your wound?" The guy continued to look him over, sizing him up. "Look mate, there are other people here that need help. Either you can wait for whoever the med center sends over while you continue to sit here and bleed everywhere, or you can let me bandage that." Tyro liked to consider himself kind and understanding towards most beings, as long as they meant well, and he felt he was doing so now, but there was no time to sit here and placate someone being pointlessly paranoid and selfish.

Blinking, the man sobered "Yeah kid, just do it."

"Okay, now keep pressure on this to control the bleeding." With that he was on to the next person. Tyro saw to three, then six, then seven before he started to worry. These are minor injuries, I'm just working fast, he assured himself. The medcenter wasn't that far away though, why weren't they here yet? He saw to nine, and the tenth was bad enough that he needed to ask the woman's husband to to hold the wound while he went to the next person. He could keep working, but these people needed real medical attention. Growing concerned he sent another man off to the medcenter as he assured a worried brother that help was on the way soon. Trying to keep a neutral expression he looked back over to where Gavyn was, surrounded by his own small crowd, hoping that the Jedi would be able to heal the man soon.

* * *

 **The open street was no Medical Bay.** Granted, it was no battlefield either, which Gavyn was grateful for, but it also meant that they didn't have a lot of the simple medical equipment he was used to having in the field. A bit of stims and some encouragement through the Force managed to get a lot of men from dying in a ditch to in the hands of a proper doctor.

Gavyn rested his hand on the man's forehead, he could feel an overwhelming pressure building up. "He's concussed." Gavyn informed his wife. He tried to concentrate, but the bruise was growing too fast for him to stabilize with the Force. He wasn't a magician, he could only use it to coax the body into repairing itself. He looked up to the wife. "I can wake him up, but you need to get him to an emergency room as quickly as possible." Gavyn warned. She paled, but nodded.

With that Gavyn returned his hand to the man's temple. It felt as though only a moment had passed, but Gavyn knew from experience it has probably been several minutes. The man's eyes shot open, and he immediately started wailing in pain. He was clutching his head, but Gavyn managed to pull him to his feet.

The Jedi Master did not have a chance to see the pair even round the corner, before the next woman caught his attention. "Is he going to be okay?" She asked, concerned now that the Jedi was not the miracle worker she had expected.

"He needs to see a Doctor." Gavyn answered calmly.

The woman hesitated. "Can you do anything for my little girl?" She asked. The girl was sitting by her feet, weeping steadily, and clutching a blanket.

Gavyn crouched so he was eye to eye with her. He hoped desperately that he could help her, because it broke his heart to see an innocent in so much pain. He could sense the problem, and slowly, folded her blanket over itself to reveal her foot twisted into a nightmarish angle.

A lump formed in Gavyn's throat as he sat next to her. What he was going to have to do was going to be painful. He looked into her teary eyes. "You are a brave girl." He told her. "And I need you to be brave for me when I fix your ankle, okay?" It didn't matter how gently Gavyn tried to move it back into place, he felt her pain like an electric shock. She dug her tiny fingers into his shoulder, strong, but also hardly notable against his massive frame. He felt the joint click back into place like a beacon through the Force.

Quickly, Gavyn wrapped his arms around her, to try and slow her sobbing. He needed to put ice on the ankle before it swelled up, but he did not dare move with her clinging tightly to his tunic. Without thinking, Gavyn fell into an old habit that he had when he travelled with his former Padawan. He called for help through the Force, and for the first time in a long time he felt like that channel was open.

This was the kind of work that Gavyn often did before the Clone Wars started. Mai, his former apprentice, was a skilled healer, and Gavyn's directive but compassionate nature made them choice candidates for humanitarian work. Gavyn would be off rallying troops to defensive positions, and organizing supply chains while Mai looked after the wounded or helped civilians rebuild. Gavyn couldn't say that he was surprised when she wanted no part of a galactic war - she always did have a strong will - but he would be lying if he said he didn't miss her. He tightened his embrace on the girl in his arms unconsciously.

* * *

 **Tyro looked up sharply** from the man he was attending to. The injuries had gotten beyond what he could handle, he needed the Jedi's help. No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than he felt a surge of Gavyn's presence. There was a request- no, a need in it. He stood up quickly. Feeling the urgency he pushed back his assurances automatically, "I'm right here, I'm coming," as if he was talking to the man face to face, before he realized what he was doing. This was different than what he had felt from the Jedi before. Before the man had merely been present, undeniably so, but now it was like more of a connection. He'd heard lore about that, between Jedi, it was something he had never had with is former master, and so Tyro had dismissed as something less fantastical; any two people who fought alongside another for so long were bound to fall in sync. He trusted in the force enough to know this was not mere coincidence.

Taking some of the ice from the man who had brought it he rushed to Gavyn's side.

Gavyn caught Tyro's eye as he took the ice. He knew that the boy felt the unmistakable connection between a Master and a Padawan. They were in tune, harmonized through the force like a symphony only they could hear. The jedi master couldn't leave him at Agricorps now, he had to convince Tyro to join him on the front. He had never thought he would feel this kind of connection again after Mai, never another sure partner in the Force. It wasn't something that came around every day.

Easing himself away from the girl, he exchanged places with her mother before applying the pack of ice to her rapidly swelling ankle. "Hold this until we can get her a doctor." He told her.

Gavyn bit back the urge to bring up the connection ringing between him and Tyro. This wasn't the time… and he had learned his lesson about approaching this proposition with so much enthusiasm. "Thanks Tyro." He mentioned. It felt redundant. "Do the local hospitals know what is going on here?"

"Yeah, I sent someone to tell them when we first started," Tyro looked around, still unsatisfied. "They should be here by now they're not that far away."

Tyro updated Gavyn on everyone's condition, and still there was no sign of anyone from the medcenter. "Look, I'm just going to get those guys myself," Tyro excused, barely biting down the exasperation in his voice.

He hurried off, pushing his way past the crowd that had gathered around them before sprinting down the street. Any minute he was sure to run into them, heading over, but as he drew closer to the end of the six blocks he had directed the first man down, it was becoming clear that there was no help on the way. One man not finding the location, sure he could believe that, but two? Tyro slowed as he approached what was one of only a few proper buildings around the marketplace. Perhaps nothing was wrong, or perhaps he was just too fixated on everything else going on lately, but he had a bad feeling about this, even outside of the force. Instinctively he reached for his lightsaber as he stepped inside, only to remember it no longer hung at his hip.

The doors slid open and Tyro cautiously entered. It looked like...a normal medcenter. There was a light chime as he stepped inside, and a secretary watched him patiently from the front desk. "Hey," Tyro greeted casually, offering a slight wave. "Has anyone…" He hesitated. The secretary was making very deliberate eye-contact with him. While he didn't really get bad feelings about things in the future, he could often pick them up from people, and while the lady here was doing an amazing job keeping a calm demeanor, fear and warning rolled off her in waves.

Instantly Tyro spun, drawing his blaster in one smooth motion. In the same moment, six men fell in around him, and their military-grade weapons were quite the step up from the small pistol Tyro kept on his person.

"What business do you think you have here, huh?" Tyro accused sharply.

"Apparently a rather profitable one. Now hand over that weapon and come with us."

"Look, I don't know what you think you are going to get out of occupying a medcenter, but keeping them from helping the wounded won't win you any points towards your war thing." Tyro spoke firmly, calmly as Gavyn had, standing confidently, weapon raised, but as a smile swept over the man's face, he knew he did not have the bigger Jedi's presence.

"Then you are not very smart, are you?" The man he had locked eyes with countered snidely.

"No, I get it. You think that by holding them hostage you're going to get the attention you want. But you don't want the attention of the general public, you want a specific group. Well fine, you've got what you want, here I am. Take me, but you have to let them go."

The man just started laughing, and one by one the rest of the group joined in. "I don't think so boy. We are looking for a Jedi. I see no robes, no lightsaber. I do not think a ten year old is in any position to bargain with us."

"I'm fourteen you rodder!" Tyro reached out with the force, ripping the weapon from the man's hand and simultaneously somersaulting backwards to avoid the spray of blaster fire that followed. There was a scream and he saw from the corner of his eye the secretary ducking behind the desk. This was not a place to engage in a fight. He had to let these guys take him, or at least think they had him long enough that they would let whoever they were holding here go.

"Believe me now?" Tyro spoke, staring them down evenly. "You don't want to fight me. Let them go, leave this place, and I'll come willingly. Do whatever it is you want." There was no way in hell he was going to give himself over to them, but it they thought it would work, then why not try suggesting it.

"Very well, drop your weapon," the leader spoke, indicating both the pistol and the larger military blaster that had once been his.

"See, you're forgetting the part where you let them go and leave this place first." Tyro asserted.

"Oh, how forgetful of me. Thom, call everyone back. We have what we need." The leader spoke seriously, Tyro was sure he meant it. He kept a straight face, tried to look a little like someone who had just condemned himself. Now was not the time to blow this.

A few minutes later an additional six armed men appeared from the back, joining with the group already there. Moments later the first man Tyro had sent over stuck his head out the door, looking around.

"Go now," Tyro commanded him firmly. The man looked back and waved on to a team of medical personnel who hurried after him, eying the scene of heavily armed men and one teenager.

"Okay kid, now drop your weapons," the leader demanded as he watched the last of the med team leave.

"Not until all of you leave and stay out of the building."

"Very well then," the leader agreed, motioning, "You first."

Tyro backed slowly out the doors, facing the group, thinking fast. There were twelve of them now, all better armed than him. But they didn't have the force, and there was no way they knew the market as well as he did. Once outside he could make a break for it.

He glanced over his shoulder as he heard the automatic doors slide open behind him. There was almost no one around, it was a slow day after all. This was good, it meant he could make a break for it without getting anyone else wrapped up in this.

Tyro walked down the street a bit more, getting as far away from the building as seemed reasonable. "Okay," He announced, "I'm putting the guns down." Better to inform than surprise them. Preferably this would offset their expectations enough that he would have a better chance at making a break for it.

"Very well," the leader conceded. "Hands behind your-"

Before the man could even finish his sentence, Tyro leaped, hopping to the top of the nearest tent, then using the give in the canvas to somersault backwards to the one across the street. Running across the tops of the stalls he made sure to keep in sight of the group now yelling and chasing after him. He would lose them eventually, once he had drawn them far enough away to keep everyone else safe.

Tent after tent flew by under his feet. Not as solid as the buildings of Coruscant, but they had their uses. He lost himself in the flow, feeling suddenly nostalgic at this strange similarity to the planet he had once considered home. Only then did he realize he no longer heard the sounds of the men chasing after them. Quickly he looked back, he hadn't meant to lose them this soon. The streets behind him were empty.

Tyro turned to look back ahead just in time to measure his next jump, but not soon enough to see the men on the street below. By the time he was in midair it was too late. The man below, on the other hand, had been prepared for this. He saw the blaster a split second before the stun bolt hit him squarely in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. Caught by surprise, Tyro dropped his hold on the force which he had been using to aid his jump. He crashed roughly into the wooden paneling of an empty stall before landing hard on his face on the ground below.

Instinctively he tried to move as pain from the fall flared up in several places, but his muscles were frozen stiff. With his head pressed firmly into the dirt like this he couldn't see anything, though really he wished he could move just enough that he wouldn't be inhaling the dirt. Rushed footsteps surrounded him, and he heard several blasters being armed.

"Halt!" Tyro the voice of their leader cut in somewhere behind him. "Cuff him. We need him alive." Tyro wished he had the ability to grit his teeth as someone stepped on his back, painfully pulling his arms behind him and slapping on what he assumed were a pair of stun cuffs.

Easy, he reminded himself. I've gotten out of these before, I can do it again. He centered himself once more, reminding himself that he still had the force at his disposal as well. Perhaps he'd give it a few moments, let them think he was helpless, then make a break for it...somehow.

The closest man kicked him roughly over onto his back. The sun blazed into his eyes but frozen as he was, he could do nothing to block it.

"Commander, with all due respect, he's too little, Sir," one of the men staring down at Tyro spoke. "This isn't going to work."

"No, I would say he will do just fine." The leader of this group was a Commander then. Trying to win points with his General perhaps? More importantly, the guy who was probably orchestrating this entire thing. Tyro watched him leerily as the man stepped forward to loom above him.

"Jedi come in pairs when they are this little. We've got one, the other will be along soon enough." The man smiled knowingly at him. Only then did Tyro realize how big a mistake he had made.

"Dom, where's that hypospray you said you picked up at the medcenter? We're not taking any chances with this one." Even though he knew he couldn't move, Tyro still instinctively tried to squirm out of the way as the man bent down next to him, roughly grabbing his face and pushing his head back to expose his neck. At the very least, Tyro wished he could talk to let the guy know exactly what he thought of him in so many expletives. Still, he felt like he managed to shutter as he felt whatever drug they had in that thing flow into his bloodstream. He fought it as best he could, but he did not have the kind of control over his body to stop something like this and felt his thoughts slow to a snail's pace. He only hoped Gavyn wasn't going to be lured into this too. Maybe whatever that thing between them earlier had been just a coincidence, or something. Wishful thinking. When he woke up he would find a way out of this. Tyro held onto that assurance as his vision blurred before finally going black.


	8. Jedi Bait

**Gavyn felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up.** Tyro's excursion was going sour, he knew it. Gavyn's eyes drifted away from the patient in front of him, as the feeling became overwhelming. The boy was in danger. The last sense that Gavyn got felt almost like a warning, before the connection between them just turned into a dull throb.

Edgy, and defensive, Gavyn spun quickly to face movement he sensed behind him. His hand was on the hilt of his lightsaber before he realized that it was a couple of EMTs running in his direction, not more terrorists. He did not lower his guard a fraction, however.

"I trust you can take it from here." He told them quickly. It wasn't a question. "I need to find the boy."

Two of the EMTs looked at each other, surprised, but the quickest chimed in before Gavyn dashed off. "Some of those terrorists have him hostage at the clinic."

Gavyn nodded curtly, and began running in the direction of the clinic, but he didn't feel confident about it. Something inside him nagged at him, telling him that he was running the wrong way. Gavyn slowed down to a stop, brows furrowed in agitation. His instincts and his observation were conflicted, but a wrong choice could mean Tyro getting hurt - or worse. Taking a deep breath, Gavyn realized in a moment that he hadn't felt a connection like this through the Force in years. He had to follow his instincts.

Following Tyro through the Force was still not an easy task, he wasn't aware of where exactly Tyro was like the clone's holomaps. It felt like guesswork at times, as Gavyn came to winding intersections, and simply trusted himself to pick the right path. The one thing he was certain about, however, was that he was catching up. _I'm on my way, Tyro._

* * *

 **Groggily, Tyro felt consciousness returning**. He didn't open his eyes yet though, instead relying on his other senses and the force. His body was sore and very stiff, but he wasn't badly wounded and the stun was wearing off. Remembering what had happened, he resisted the urge in his muscles to move and stretch, that would have to wait until he could tell where he was. He felt a smooth, cold, duracrete floor beneath him, his cheek pressed against it. He was inside, and hearing no motorized hum, he felt a relief wash over him, his captors hadn't loaded him onto some ship. It smelled of oil, machinery, manufacture, though it was only an essence, nothing fresh, as though this was an old factory. The weight and chill of heavy metal pinned down his wrists, positioned uncomfortably behind him. That was right, the stun cuffs. He was suddenly very glad in his decision not to move. The first rule of stun cuffs was to not struggle in them, they had their name for a reason.

These were a good model. Top of the line, very advanced, likely military tech, but most importantly, computerized. And that there was where Tyro had them. Tyro probed into the machinery with the force. He usually didn't need it to work with tech, but it seemed to always make things more clear to him. Perhaps it was why understanding computers had always been so second nature to him. Opening them would be simple, at least for him, but he had to make sure of something first.

He could hear no one immediately nearby and cautiously he opened his eyes. Yep, large factory warehouse, he was right about that. What he hadn't been expecting were the battle droids. They lined the walls in rows, many droids deep. And not just the small kind either, these were the large B2s like the man had had in the market today. Suddenly it was no surprise where he had found the thing.

Footsteps echoed down the hall from a room to the side, faint voices. If he was going to get out of these cuffs he had better do it fast. In less than a second he heard the faint mechanical whir as the cuffs loosened around his wrists. It was not a moment too soon. Quickly Tyro closed his eyes again, leaving the cuffs where they lay around his wrists, loosely holding the edges of them in his fingers to ensure they did not slip off just yet.

"Sir, is it supposed to take this long? Perhaps it won't work with this one."

"Give it some more time." The voices were close now, Tyro could hear the footsteps only a few meters from his head. "Once he's awake we can try something else. Did you know when they're like this they can feel eachother's pain?"

No. Gavyn. Tyro suddenly remembered. It was something he would have never considered a problem before, but he had the sinking feeling that it would be now. Considering the few times he had found himself in a situation like this with his former master, he had managed on his own just fine, without this disadvantage. He wasn't even the Gavyn's Padawan, nor could he be, so why the force had chosen now to do this he could only fathom. He would be fine, he didn't need the man's help. He already had the binders off, he just needed a good opportunity to make a run for it.

Experimentally Tyro pushed in the direction of the force that he had felt Gavyn in earlier. Assurance and urgency met him in return, both distinctly Gavyn's. Crap. Tyro pulled back quickly, but the damage was done. He had no experience with this kind of thing and had no idea how to shut it out. Turning off his access to the force, any part of it, was something he had never even considered doing before. Desperately his mind started running through possible solutions, but he could not think what would work.

Suddenly a boot roughly connected with his side, kicking him roughly over onto his back. It took all of Tyro's discipline to stay still and not guard himself against the kick or cry out. It wasn't enough though to keep his body from flopping limply as he landed supine. "Stun's wearing off. Better get him where you want him now."

No, was all that ran through Tyro's head as someone roughly grabbed him by the hair, lifting him. _No no no…_ Mercifully someone else picked up his legs. They walked only a short distance before he was dropped into the cold metal frame of a chair. The air sounded different here. A small room perhaps.

"Do what you have to, we only need the the one," The voice of the leader commanded. "Just don't kill him before we have the other one."

"Yessir. Understood, Commander." Footsteps. A heavy metal door slammed shut. "Looks like it's just us two then." Tyro could taste the breath of the man he was so close. "Just as soon as you wake up." Those final words strengthened his resolve to not flinch as he felt the tip of a vibroblade trace down the side of his face, drawing a thin line of pain. His only chance was to feign unconsciousness, but he was beginning to wonder how much longer that would last. Perhaps he wasn't going to be able to do this on his own after all.

* * *

 **After what felt like endless searching** Gavyn finally pinpointed the old factory that the terrorists were keeping Tyro in. He had circled the block twice, to scout the area, and to be sure. There were a lot of similar factories in various degrees of disrepair lining this quarter. The planet seemed to have more or less abandoned manufacturing in lieu of distribution. Luckily, in his rounds, Gavyn only spotted one sentry outside. For people trying to start a war, they clearly were accustomed to the peaceful nature of the citizens.

Gavyn was not a stealthy man, but he did know a couple of things about tactics, and Tyro's presence in his mind continue to urge him to stay cautious. This was undoubtedly a trap. He kept an eye on the guard, as he ducked behind a stack of shipping crates. Using the Force to help him find footing, he climbed up to the top and peered over the edge. The guard was still leaning against the door.

Reaching out with the force, he opened the doors of the shipping crate on the bottom, screeching and groaning. _Good._ Gavyn thought, as the guard started walking in his direction, curious about the noise. As the guard peered into the crate, Gavyn sprung from his perch and landed a swift kick to the sentry's jaw. He was out cold before jedi landed on the ground.

Gavyn pulled the sentry into the shipping crate. There seemed to be several empty boxes of munitions and spare parts for battle droids, for which Gavyn breathed a sigh of relief. It was a good thing he had trusted his instincts and the Force after all. This was clearly the terrorist's base of operations.

When Gavyn emerged from the shipping crate, he was sporting the miscellaneous military gear that previously had belonged to the sentry. Ace would have been disappointed with such improper equipment, but Gavyn was thankful that the terrorist had torn sleeves off his flak jacket, because it hardly fit over his barrel chest already. Gavyn brushed his hair back and pulled the helmet over his head. It was stuffy, and the mask was filthy. Ace would also be disappointed, but he didn't need to worry about obscuring his face when he looked like millions of his brothers. Finally, Gavyn slung the rifle over his shoulder and strapped the guard's wrist comlink to his arm. Any enemy's communicator was one of the best weapons that one could have.

The actual best weapon one could have was a lightsaber, of course. Gavyn tucked his into a pocket on his leg.

The inside of the factory was huge. Massive machinery and belts strung from wall to wall. There were quite a few extremists here, polishing weapons or eating. None of them paid Gavyn any mind. Along the back wall there seemed to be offices and rooms overlooking the plant, and Gavyn followed his feeling to check there first.

He ducked inside a corridor. Whatever paint had been on the walls was almost indistinguishable past the chipping duracrete and faded color. There was one guard standing outside a thick metal door. That had to be it. Gavyn walked up confidently. "You're relieved, soldier."

"What?" He asked back. Gavyn grimaced under his mask. That was far too formal, he had been around professional soldiers for too long.

"I'm taking your post." He grunted. "You're on break." That seemed to light him up, and the guard walked off. Gavyn could feel Tyro clearly behind the door. He reached out. _I'm here. You're going to get out._ Slowly, Gavyn opened the door. He didn't say anything, instead, he stood soldier like, as though he were just assigned as some kind of bodygaurd. He quickly looked over Tyro. He didn't seem hurt, and he could sense that the boy was not unconscious as he appeared.

Tyro struggled to keep his breathing even, but he could feel the malintent rolling off the man in waves. The eagerness behind it was unsettling and while Tyro's mind was racing through ideas, he could figure no good way out of this. The man was too close, too armed, too ready to hurt, to kill. He just had to stay calm, to wait. Even that small task became more difficult by the second. The force would guide him, he just had to trust it.

No sooner had he reminded himself that than he felt a wave of reassurance; Gavyn's reassurance. Gavyn was here. Relief washed over him, then dread, then he let it all go and focused. He heard the door creak open, felt the man in front of him back away. "Close the door you idiot!" Now was his chance.

Tyro's eyes shot open, taking the room around him in in an instant. Small. Desk. Chair. Knives. Cabinets. Instantly he was on his feet, leaping backwards. In the same motion he flipped off the stun cuffs into one hand, ripping the vibroblade from the hand of the man that would have been his torturer. Taking advantage of the man's surprise Tyro instantly leapt forward, grabbing a current in the force, kicking him solidly to the ground before either he, nor who he was sure was Gavyn at the door, thought to move. Quickly Tyro slapped the stun cuffs around the man's wrists before jumping back, ready if man was to try anything again.

He held the vibroblade firmly in his hand just in case, but thankfully there was no need, the man was out cold. Tyro took a few more steps back, dropping the vibroblade before looking over to the helmeted figure of Gavyn at the door.

"No. Go. Get out of here. You can't be here. You need to go." Tyro stopped, breathing heavily, heart racing. He could no longer keep his calm facade. He backed further away from the man lying cuffed on the floor until his back was safely pressed against the wall. " _Shit_ , man. He was gonna…" Tyro absently ran his hand down the cut on his cheek, staring at the blood now on his fingers. "Just... _shit._ "

Gavyn bent down and picked up the vibroblade from the ground. He flipped it over and thrust the hilt into Tyro's hand. "There is still a chance of that if we don't get out of here." Gavyn warned. He was not going to leave without Tyro, even if his rescue was bait in a trap. Gavyn could not let this kid get hurt on his behalf, and the terrorists here did not scare him. After facing down armies of thousands, it became disturbing what stopped being scary.

Quickly checking the hallway first, Gavyn hurried down the corridor, beckoning Tyro to follow. He led the boy towards the edge of the factory complex before crossing the open manufacturing area, out of the way of most of the terrorists. But that was when the comlink activated.

_The prisoner is gone! He took out the commander!_

Voice chirped up all around the complex, as the extremists dropped their bread and picked up their blasters. "Find him!" "Split up!" "I'll fucking kill him!"

Gavyn's throat tightened, and he looked behind him to see how Tyro was holding up.

Tyro pressed himself against the wall, looking out as he heard the transmission over Gavyn's comlink. He couldn't bring himself to follow Gavyn onto the open factory floor where he had woken up only a bit earlier. Perhaps he was giving into his fears, but a sinking feeling kept him pinned here, right before the entrance against the wall. He swallowed, his mouth dry, turning the vibroblade over in his hand, getting a feel for it. It was a good blade, nicely weighted, and he wasn't bad with a knife, but it wasn't a lightsaber, it could never be. They would find a way out of this, he always did, and after the kinds of missions he ran with his former master, and even just being around the undercity of Coruscant enough, this kind of danger was not uncommon, but there was so much hatred in these men. So much senseless violence. He was used to dealing with more meticulous people, and even that subtle difference was enough to throw him off, to send tendrils of unease crawling through his blood.

"Activate the B2s!" Someone commanded over the comm. Tyro looked up sharply at the sound of machinery beginning to come to life. Quickly he found Gavyn. The Jedi was already out in the open room. He caught Gavyn's eye and motioned sharply, rolling back around the wall, out of sight of the droids. The only thing that separated them from them now was the wall he had his back to, and that was not going to last.

The hallway to his left seemed clear enough so he ran, hoping to put as much distance between him and those droids as possible.

"Target located in West Hallway," crackled over the comm. Keeping his pace, Tyro turned to look sharply back at Gavyn. They had been spotted. He turned sharply to the right, looking around, listening, sensing outwards with the force, but he could see no security cameras, feel no one nearby enough to see them.

"Target has moved to corridor H-5." _How the hell?_ He rounded the corner again only to be met with a dead end. He didn't even stop to consider anything else, there was no time. Instantly he leapt towards the ceiling, tossing the grate in the vent above aside with the force. Catching the edge he crawled inside, pausing only long enough to ensure that the larger Jedi was still behind him, thankful that a factory like this necessitated such large ventilation tubing. The man fit, if only barely. He realized then he wasn't working with the man as he should be, running like this, but somewhere between desperation and instinct pushed him on.

They had only crawled a few meters before the comm sounded again. "Ventilation shaft B." At that Tyro stopped. He needed to think. "How in the hell do they…." he muttered under his breath. "Unless…" He closed his eyes, taking a deep calming breath, shutting out everything else. It had to be….

Quickly Tyro ripped off his jacket, feeling along the lining. In less than a second he located a small chip near the collar. So that was how they were tracking him. "Rotten little bugger," he cursed the device under his breath as he held it up so Gavyn could see. "Can't believe I didn't think of that first." He looked around, they didn't have much time.

Tyro looked up at a slight twinge in the force. Up ahead something scurried. There was definitely something more than just them up in these shafts. Moving swiftly he crawled towards it, trying his best not to scare what he could now make out as a rat-like creature, he clipped the tiny device to one of the spines along its back. It squeaked at him before scampering quickly away down the tubing.

"That should throw them off," Tyro muttered, sitting back, trying to catch his breath. "Where to now?"

"Out of here. As soon as possible." Gavyn answered gruffly. Not only would there be the entire complex swarming the ventilation any minute looking for that rat, Gavyn was getting claustrophobic in ventilation that his shoulders hardly cleared.

Gavyn still had a pretty good idea about where they were, and where the front of the factory was. "This way." He said, turning around in the vent and crawling as fast as he could without bumping his head on an I-beam. Finally, he cut through a ventilation grate, dropping into the hallway below - in view of the door. A disturbance in the Force rocked Gavyn, and he stopped before dashing through the door, and taking cover around the corner. He put out an arm to stop Tyro, and pulled him behind cover as well. In a moment, a number of extremists and droids ran by, but did not turn in their direction. Most of them ran right past, but one of the B2s lingered behind, examining the doorway.

Gavyn slowly reached into his pocket for his lightsaber. He charged through the door, swinging down the lightsaber towards the droid. The droid was fast however, spinning around to knock Gavyn's arm aside, then punching him hard in the chest. Flying back through the door he had just left, Gavyn landed on the ground in a heap.

Tyro winced as he felt Gavyn hit the floor, but held his ground. As much as he needed to help the man now before something worse happened, it would be beyond stupid to rush a super battle droid without a lightsaber. His mind raced through solutions as the droid wound up for its next attack. That thing had to be at least twice his size and heavily armored. Normally he'd try and hack it but he didn't have a data pad on him, and there was no way he would get close enough to get to its wiring.

There was one quick, clear solution. In the fraction of a moment it took Tyro to ration out his plan, the droid had focused its sights on the Jedi Master, charging up a blast. Immediately Tyro grabbed hold of the force, throwing around the leg of the droid like a lasso, ripping it out from under it. The droid landed with a loud clang, its shot misfiring down the hallway. It was sloppy, but it got the job done. "Gavyn!" Tyro called out in concern.

Gavyn pulled himself to his feet. Picking his lightsaber up from the ground and charging back towards the droid in one movement. He swung the blade down as he lept at the prone droid. It caught his arm in it's crushing, cold grasp before the lightsaber could cut through it's metal skull. They were shaking with the effort to maintain the stalemate, Gavyn grimacing against the pain as the droid's claws dug deeper into his flesh.

"Go! Quickly!" Gavyn called out to Tyro. He had the droid trapped in a grapple, it was Tyro's perfect opportunity get out and get the authorities.

Tyro wanted to protest, but with only the small knife he might as well been unarmed, and there were far more than just one droid in this factory. The solution he could feel Gavyn urging him towards was right. That still wasn't going to stop him from giving it another chance while he still could.

Peeking around the corner he judged the distance between his current location and the door once more. That was a long hallway, but the coast was clear. It was now or never. Tyro leapt from his spot, grabbing onto the arm of the giant droid with the force. He yanked it back, trying to get it to let go of the Jedi but its grip was strong, and it only pulled Gavyn back with it.

Immediately Tyro let go. He was going to have to trust the Jedi Master on this one. Swallowing his emotions, Tyro turned and ran down the hallway. Leaving Gavyn here was terrible, it was what they wanted, but this was the best way he could help him now. Perhaps he had to leave physically, but they still had the force. Tyro felt comforted in that for the first time since he had felt it. I'm not leaving you, he assured the master.

And then he was out the door and into the light of the late afternoon. It didn't take him long to realize, he had no idea where he was. Too late did he notice the three Super Battle Droids round the corner. Tyro charged, it was his only hope. If he could just make it past them in time…It was not to be. He dodged to the left, narrowly missing the swing from one giant fist as it sped towards him only to end up in the path of another. Cold hard metal threw him painfully into the air. Cushioning the blow as much as he could with the force, he landed, dazed, a few meters away. His mind was racing, pushing him to get up and run again, but his body was slow to obey. Before he could move again large hands reached out, pinning him to the ground. He struggled against the firm grip, but the more he moved, the tighter the droid held. _Well, on the positive side, at least it didn't shoot me_ , Tyro thought with a bitter grimace.

* * *

 **Gavyn could feel Tyro's sentiment through the Force.** _I'll be right behind you_ , he assured. However, he couldn't hold the droid back much longer. Gavyn shifted his position, and gathered his strength to push back with all of his might. His blue blade sizzled slowly through the armor plating on the droid's head until it's movement sputtered to a stop. Even without the motors running, it was a weighty piece of equipment. Gavyn heaved it off of him, and pulled himself to his feet.

A sudden disturbance nearly sent Gavyn staggering. He bolted outside, in time to see a droid pin Tyro to the ground. Two more, stepping towards the boy, rounded their blasters at Gavyn instead. They fired a barrage at the Jedi, but he deftly reflected the bolts back at the droids as he charged forward. He punched his lightsaber under the arm of the final droid, hearing the whirring grind to a stop before he kicked the droid sideways off of Tyro.

He didn't have to ask if Tyro was okay… Gavyn already knew it. "Follow me." He urged Tyro, as Gavyn ran back towards town.

Tyro nodded, quickly picking himself up and ran after Gavyn, amazed at how the man had just taken out three...presumably four droids in less than a minute. The Jedi was surprisingly fast despite his bulk. "Er...is it okay to just leave? That was a lot of droids, what if they chase us into town or something?"

"We'll leave them to the local authorities." Gavyn answered honestly, without a shred of agenda or trying to slip from his duties. After all, it wasn't a Jedi's job to be a police force. If they regrouped then it would still fall on the locals to take care of the problem, and then they would only be left with less experience and information about the operation. "You're safe. We escaped. The next step is to report the incident." He advised as he slowed his pace, now that the old factory was out of sight beyond criss-crossing roads and buildings.

"This shouldn't be about me," Tyro said quietly after catching his breath. "Those guys...they're screwed up. On the train yesterday. How they could just kill... And today...they're going to do it again. How can we just leave and...trust someone else to do it instead?" There had to be something else they could or should do. He looked back hesitantly.

It was not difficult for Gavyn to remember the days that he thought a pair of heroic Jedi knights could accomplish anything. He had seen a lot since then, and realized that teams of trained professionals could accomplish a lot more- it was not a Jedi's role to enforce the law. "It is a Jedi's duty to mediate conflict, offer guidance, and to be a leader when necessary. The police force will be more than capable of arresting these extremists, and unlike us they will be able to try them in accordance to local laws." He raised an eyebrow at Tyro. "And I thought you were a farmer, anyway."

"I am," Tyro agreed quickly. "I just...It's our duty here to help where we can to rebuild, and...perhaps I was getting carried away with that. I'd best stick to the plants, or computers and machinery I suppose; don't remember the last time I touched a plant since they figured I was better at all that other stuff." Tyro trailed off as he followed behind Gavyn, noticing the market stalls in the distance.

Gavyn wondered if Tyro could hear himself. He did not talk like an Agricorps Jedi, he talked like a knight. A passing security officer, however, caught Gavyn's attention. "Hold on a moment." He told Tyro. He broke away to explain the situation to the officer. After a moment, he simply gave Gavyn his walkie-talkie, and Gavyn spoke directly to the station.

Relaying information about the setup, Gavyn did not leave a single detail unturned, recounting the misadventure with military precision. He was concerned about the sheer number of military-grade battle droids, so Gavyn recommended they clear the place out with some EMPs before advancing.

After offering to hand back the communicator, the officer declined, insisting that Gavyn should hold onto it before he hurried off. The sirens were already popping up all around town. The Jedi master turned back to Tyro.

"You ought to get back to Agricorps." He suggested.

Tyro nodded. Now the officials were on it, there really wasn't much more he could do. He was a bit embarrassed he had suggested going back earlier. The Jedi had just risked everything to get him out safely.

He looked away, noting the dimming light. It was now late in the day and he still hadn't done his errands, or as his churning stomach reminded him, eaten breakfast. Deciding that it would be nothing short of awkward to say goodbye for the third time in a day, Tyro simply nodded again.


End file.
